Anywhere But Here
by LittleMiss543
Summary: A new case hits Brennan hard; can she keep her emotions in control to help solve the case or will everything get out of control? With the help of her father and a childhood friend she must solve the case before it all gets too much and more people die.
1. Chapter 1

**(a/n) ****This isn't really a 'new' story, it's the re-write of my old fan-fic, Hiding From the Truth, with a slightly different plot. **

**Summary: A new case hits Brennan hard; can she keep her emotions in control to help solve the case or will everything get out of control? With the help of her father and a childhood friend she must solve the case before it all gets too much and more people die... I suck at summaries, it's much better I promise :D. **

**A big thanks to my beta-reader, BonEsFantastic. **

*****Chapter One*****

It was Sunday morning, the sun was out, and the skies were clear. The lab was empty, no squints in sight, not everyone was like his Bones; they liked to take time off. A few were wandering around, mostly grad students identifying old remains or finishing their assignments, but none of them looked liked they actually wanted to be there. As much as they loved to work with the world famous Dr. Brennan, none of them liked to work on a Sunday.

They had a case, which was why he was here; he was also among the many that disliked working on a Sunday. He hated working weekends in general; that was when he was supposed to have his son, Parker.

Nevertheless, it was a Sunday, and they had a case. He strolled through the entrance to the lab and made his way to Brennan's office. Surprisingly, it was empty. Brennan was always in the lab. Much to Booth's dismay, she was in every available day and every possible hour. Normally, as there were no cases coming in, he could find her in her office doing paperwork or finishing up on reports she'd not yet finished during the week. However, today she was not there.

_Limbo _he thought to himself. She was probably in limbo. Indentifying someone's remains from hundreds of years ago that probably wouldn't have been identified for another hundred years if it had been any other anthropologist. Everyone thought that Dr. Brennan was a cold fish but he knew otherwise. Bones had a heart of gold, just like him, even if she denied the fact that she followed her heart. Only Bones would spend their free time discovering the identity of bones, whose family probably joined them in that 'better place' people could only talk about. _Still_, she believed that they deserved to be known.

As he walked down the stairs and into 'Limbo' he started to hum so that if she was down there he wouldn't get attacked again for startling her, like the last time. As he neared the end of the stairs, his curiosity and anxiety increased. He had heard no _'Hey Booth'_ or _'Got a new case for us Booth?'_ as he had walked down the steps. He hadn't seen her either. _Where was Bones?_ This was not like her, not to be in the lab.

He slowly walked back up the stairs giving himself time to gather his thoughts. _Cam_ he thought to himself. Cam probably knew where Brennan was, she knew where everybody was. After all, she was the boss. Cam was someone who could be found inside the lab any time of the day, she enjoyed time off as much as the next person but she was dedicated to her job.

He walked into Cam's office and found her sitting at her desk behind a mountain of paperwork. As soon as she heard him enter, the room she stood up to greet him. "We got a case?" she asked casually, putting the pen she had been previously working with behind her ear.

"Yep," he replied, emphasising the 'p'. "That's why I'm here, you seen Bones anywhere? I've looked for her everywhere," he said, exaggerating.

"Everywhere?" she said sceptically.

"Well... The platform, her office and limbo, but to Bones that is everywhere," he joked.

"So you didn't check for her at her home where she actually is?"

"Bones is at home?" he asked, shocked. Bones never took time off from work, voluntarily anyway.

"Yep, last Friday afternoon she asked if she could take the rest of the weekend off. I agreed as she's been working none stop for the past few weeks. She said she'd be back Monday morning, but later than usual; 9am... And before you ask Booth, all she said is that it was for personal reasons."

"So... She's at home, voluntarily, for personal reasons?" he asked making sure that he had all the facts right.

"Yes Booth, she's at home but she'll be back tomorrow morning. Maybe, for you, she'd even consider coming back earlier, just to help you out with the case," she joked.

"Maybe. Send Hodgins to the crime scene for me while I go and pick up Bones," he said as he passed her a small slip of paper with directions to the crime scene on and started to walk out of her office.

"I was joking Booth," she shouted at his retreating form. She sighed to herself as she picked up the phone to tell Hodgins that he needed to work on his day off.

* * *

Booth drove along the familiar route to Brennan's apartment. Why hadn't he known that she was taking the weekend off? Why didn't she tell him? He asked himself as he drove. He would have thought that she would have told him that she was taking time off. But then everything had changed between them. He had told her that he loved her and she had rejected him. Maybe she was taking time off to think about what had happened. Maybe she was planning to run away again. Maybe he shouldn't be doing this; going to her apartment when she'd taken time off. Maybe he should have taken one of her many grad students with him to the crime scene. Maybe. But it was too late now, he was already there, sat in his _parked _car in front of her apartment. He might as well carry on with what he had first come to do.

He walked up to her apartment and hesitated before he knocked. The 'maybe's' still swirled around his head. Then, he heard the most beautiful sound in the world... Her laugh. With all his previous hesitations gone, he quickly knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.

From inside the apartment, he heard as she got up from her sofa and walked over to her front door. He heard her as she put down whatever she was holding; from the sound of it, it was most likely a glass. Then he heard as the lock clicked allowing the door to open.

Unbeknownst to him walking into her apartment would give him the biggest shock of his life. He would discover something that only a few people knew, something that he would have never seen coming, something that could possible change his life forever. Not only would she be letting him into her apartment, but she would also be letting him into her biggest life secret.

* * *

**That's all for today! Got more written so I'll post it asap. **

**Please review and let me know what you think! Reviews make me happy; meaning that the more reviews, the faster i upload the next chapter. XD**

**~LittleMiss x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all those that read and reviewed my last chapter :). **

**Forgot to put this on last time, but I, obviously, do not own Bones :(. **

*****Chapter Two*** **

The door opened in front of him and the obstacle blocking him from seeing his Bones was removed. She was wearing a simple pair of indigo jeans and a navy blue tank top, which brought out the blue orbs that one could get lost in. She looked happy, she looked calm, and she looked breathtaking.

"Hi Booth," she said. Something in her voice worried Booth, he didn't know exactly what it was but there was something. Worry? Distress? Fear? He wasn't quite sure, but he knew her and knew there was something. She opened the door wider to welcome him into her apartment. Booth entered the apartment, everything looked the same to him, but there was still something different.

"You've finally taken my advice and bought a TV I see," he said jokingly as his eyes glanced around the room. She flashed him the smile that was reserved for him but in the same second it appeared it disappeared.

"Yeah," she restated. There was definitely something, Booth thought to himself. As he followed her into the kitchen he noticed an unfinished board game on the coffee table by the sofa and a child's teddy lying next it. _Probably a friend's_ Booth thought to himself, Brennan had other friend's, right? A voice in the back of his mind was telling Booth something wasn't quite right. There was something off about everything. Why would Brennan be nervous or worried about letting him into her apartment, he'd been in countless time before. Normally she would be chattier with him, but not today. So far, in the space of five minutes, she'd said a total of three words to him. Something was definitely wrong.

"Have we got a case?" she asked, quietly as she started to make a new pot of coffee.

"Yeah, a body was found in a little patch of woods just outside of town. The body was found this morning around 8am by a couple who were taking a morning stroll through the woods, local police handed it over to the feds about an hour ago. It's your type of body too, body was burnt to a crisp, apparently there's no flesh in sight," he revealed. Nothing. Her face showed nothing, it was blank. "I asked Cam to send Hodgins to head over there too so that he can get the particulates that he needs," he added. Still nothing. She turned away from him, making him stare at her back while she began to pour out two cups of coffee.

He walked over to where she stood and out his hand on top of hers causing her to stop what she was doing.

"Booth," she sighed. He removed the coffee pot from her grip and set it back down on the work surface.

He turned her around to make her face him but she kept her head down, staring at the tiles which made up her kitchen floor.

"Bones, look at me, please," he pleaded. He tilted her head up to face him but she still wouldn't look him in the eye. "Bones, please tell me what's wrong." He saw as the tears started to swim in her eyes. It broke his heart to see her in this much pain but he didn't know what to say to make it any better. Hell, he didn't even know what was wrong with her; she was refusing to tell him.

"It's nothing Booth, I promise," she whispered. He voice was broken, she sounded broken. He wanted to know what was wrong so that he could tell her everything would be all right, that he'd wrap his arms around her and care for her, and repeat sweet honest words of true friendship and love. But something kept telling him that something was wrong. She was hiding information from him. They were supposed to be partners, friends even. There was supposed to be no secrets between them.

"This is not 'nothing'. I know you Bones, you don't cry over nothing." A few tears escaped her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks. She sighed; she knew she had to tell him. She couldn't stand in front of him, crying, and still tell him that everything was okay.

"I'm sorry Booth... I'm sorry," she began to sob." She tried to wipe away the few tears that were falling but gave it up as a failed attempt as more kept falling. She couldn't keep this secret any longer, it hurt her too much to lie to the people she loved. "I didn't want to do it... I wanted to tell you... I didn't know how to... There was never the right time... I wanted to-to tell you Booth, I really did. And now you must really hate me for it," she continued to sob, none of it making any sense to Booth. He saw the emotional pain she was in and he couldn't stand it any longer; he wrapped his arms around her bringing her closer to his chest. He rubbed circles on her back soothing her as she let all the pain out.

When she finally looked up at him he gently wiped away the remaining tears. "Bones, you have to tell me what's wrong. I know you're upset, I just want-need to know what's wrong."

"You'll hate me because I didn't tell you and-and I can't lose you. I can't lose you again."

"I won't hate you Bones, I promise." Once again he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer to him as the tears re-emerged. He waited to hear or feel her sobs once again but they never came. Instead she just stayed still, where she felt safe. "Please tell me Bones, I won't hate you," he whispered.

"Why's mummy crying?" asked a little voice from the doorway shocking Booth instantly. Brennan broke from Booth's grip and walked towards the small boy bending down so that she was eye level with him. She wiped away any tears that were remaining from earlier and scooped the boy into her arms.

"I'm fine, sweetheart, I promise. But a big hug will make me feel better," she told the boy. He wrapped his arm around her neck and kissed her on the cheek.

"Who's that mummy?" he asked as he saw Booth from over Brennan's shoulder. Brennan picked the small boy up and turned to face Booth's shocked face. Surprisingly that's all she could see; there was no anger, no sadness, just shock.

"Mummy?" Booth choked out in disbelief. That was not what he had expected. She had always said she never wanted kids yet here she was holding a child who was calling her 'mummy'.

"That's Agent Booth, he's the man that I work with. He's my partner," she reminded him. Then came the hardest part; telling Booth. She was scared; she didn't know how he would react. She didn't want him to leave her. "Booth, this is my five-year-old son, Zach." Booth didn't know what to do or say. She had just told him she had a son, she had kept that fact from him, in all the years they had worked together she had never mentioned that she had a child. She never even hinted it. Nevertheless, he had to do something, he couldn't just stay silent and he couldn't leave her. He would _never_ do that to her... again.

"Hey Zach, aren't you a handsome fellow," he said, ruffling his hair causing Zach to giggle and hide behind Brennan's hair.

"Hi," he giggled, still hiding.

"Hey Zach, why don't you try to finish the jigsaw that you started before your nap, then maybe you could show it to Booth later," asked Brennan, putting her son back down. He nodded before running off into the living room. Brennan took a deep breath before standing up to face Booth once again. He'd been nice to Zach, hiding his shock from him but deep down she knew she had hurt him. "I'm sorry Booth."

"I know you are Bones. Just answer me one question though; why? Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you trust me enough?" he asked. Now the real hurt was showing.

"Of course I trust you Booth, we're partners. It happened before we met Booth; it wasn't until after that first case that I found out I was pregnant. I was two months pregnant when we were working on the case and I didn't even know at that point. The father didn't want anything to do with either of us and after what happened between us, I couldn't trust anyone," she admitted

"Bones," Booth sighed. She hadn't told anyone, did this mean that _nobody_ knew? Nobody knew that she had given birth, not even Angela? "Nobody knew?"

"No, when people would normally start to notice I took time off from the Jeffersonian. Nobody knew what had happened, they just believed me that I had taken time off to visit a friend, and nobody questioned it so I didn't tell them."

"How did you hide it from us all though? Not the pregnancy, I mean actually having a son?"

"After the birth I couldn't handle it. I thought about giving him up for adoption or even putting him into foster care, that's how bad it got. A friend of the family offered to take care of him and he's lived with them ever since; they have parental custody but I see him as often as I can. It's better for him that way, it's safer. They were supposed to go on a family camping trip for the weekend but Zach was too ill so I said that I would look after him so that they could still go."

"You didn't have to do it alone Bones, I would've been there and so would Angela. You know that right?"

"We weren't as close back then as we are now. We hardly knew each other Booth. I'm sorry I never told you, there was never a good opportunity. You have every right to leave."

"I'm not leaving you Bones, I wouldn't do that to you, I promise. I forgive you," he said as he embraced her in another hug. She sighed into his chest as he said the words she never thought he would.

"Thank you Booth," she whispered, finally glad to tell her secret to somebody other than the few people involved.

"No problem Bones," he replied, kissing the top of her head before releasing her from his tight hug. "Bones, I know this is really bad timing but I really need to go to the crime scene now and I need to find one of your many grad students to take with me," he joked.

"Booth, I'll go with you. I need to be taking Zach back home soon anyway; they'll be back any time soon. I was only going to stay home all night and write more of my book."

"You sure Bones?" he asked, he didn't want to waste any of the time she had with her son; he knew how rare it could be. She nodded her head as she finished the rest of her coffee and walked into the living room where Zach was finishing his jigsaw puzzle.

**Thanks for reading and please review :). Chapter 3 coming soon XD. **

**~LittleMiss543**


	3. Chapter 3

**(a/n)**

**Sorry for not posting this chapter sooner, my laptop broke and I've only just had chance to post this chapter. Don't know when the next chapter will be but hopefully, if my brother lends me his laptop again, it should be soon :D. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bones. **

*****Chapter Three*****

Booth drove up to an average two-storey house with white wooden cladding circling the house from top to bottom. The attic had been renovated into another floor for more bedrooms to be added. Five wooden steps led up to the porch, leading to the green wooden door. Normally the front garden would've been scattered with an assortment of children's toys but they had told the children they had to get the hose clean and tidy before they were allowed to go on holiday.

Booth waited in the car while Brennan took Zach up to the house and knocked on the front door. Moments later, he heard them both walk back towards the SUV.

"They're not in," Brennan said through the open car window. "They're probably still not back yet, do you mind if we make another stop before we go to the crime scene?" she asked as she helped Zach back into the car.

"Sure thing Bones, where too next?" he asked as he re-started the engine and Brennan climbed into the front seat of the car.

"It's just a few blocks from here," she stated as he pulled away and began to drive off once again.

* * *

As they arrived at their destination, they took a few seconds to observe their surroundings; this house was much larger than the first one. It was a three story terraced house, along the street the houses where exactly the same all in blocks of three. The exterior of the house was white and had little front garden but from what Booth could tell, the back garden was much larger. In the front garden three children were playing with an old red football. As the car pulled up, all three little heads turned to the partners. With large smiles on their faces, the children rushed to greet Brennan as soon as she climbed out the door.

"Aunt Tempe!" the youngest boy yelled as he ran over to her. She opened her arms out to hug him just in time so that she wouldn't fall backwards from the force. "I haven't seen you in ages!" he exclaimed.

"You saw me last week Dylan, when you stayed with me for the night."

"But still... That was ages ago," he laughed. "Can you come for tea tonight?" he asked enthusiastically.

"We'll see," she said, standing up to greet his two older siblings. She hugged the two eldest children; James and Jessica; fourteen-year-old twins. Meanwhile Booth helped Zach out of the car. Once he was free, the little boy ran up to Dylan and they started playing with one of the many toys on the garden. Booth stayed leant up against the car.

"What's with all the racket out here?" asked a man coming out of the front door carrying a can of beer and the morning newspaper. He smiled when he saw Brennan interacting with his children. Putting down what he was holding he walked over towards her and enveloped in a hug – their normal way of greeting each other. "And what brings you here on this fine morning?"

"We've got a case," she explained, pointing to Booth who was taking in his surroundings. "And I was hoping that you would be able to look after Zach for a few hours; Rachel and Andy aren't back yet and I can't take him with me."

"I'd love too and I'm sure Dylan won't mind someone to play with," he agreed.

"Can Aunt Tempe come for tea dad," the nine year old asked, not looking up from the toy he was playing with. At that moment, Booth walked up to her, putting his phone back into his pocket.

"Only if she wants to Dill, you know you're always welcome Tempe," he joked as he watched Booth walk up behind her and put his hand on her lower back. Max had always said that there was something between the two partners and now that he had a chance to see with his own eyes, he agreed with him.

"Bones, Hodgins just rang from the crime scene; he said there's something that you need to see," Booth said. They were close; his breath lingering on the back of her neck. She shivered involuntary but Pete who was watching them closely only noticed it.

"Okay Booth, I'm coming. You sure you're okay with this Pete?" she asked as Pete walked her back to the car. Booth was already halfway there; he didn't know this man, he'd never even heard Brennan mention him but she trusted him. Normally that would've been okay by him, but there was something _familiar_ about this man that didn't sit right in his gut. He'd have to check up on him later.

"Only if you come to dinner tonight and bring your _partner_," he said playfully. She glared at him before laughing and climbing back into the car. "I'll see you at 8." Booth drove away from the house as Brennan asked him whether he would go to dinner with her later. Of course, he had agreed; he'd never turn Brennan down.

* * *

Hodgins walked to meet them as they pulled up at the crime scene. Before Booth climbed out of the car, Brennan stopped him. "Booth, please don't tell anyone about Zach, I don't want to explain it to everybody yet," she asked.

"I won't tell anyone," he promised. Brennan smiled and whispered a thank you before they both climbed out of the car to meet Hodgins.

"The fed's didn't see this until I came, I spotted it as soon as I got out of my car," he bragged as he lead them a few meters away from the body and deeper into the woods. They stopped at near a small clearing; a circle of red surrounded an empty photo frame and a simple silver necklace. "I've took photos from numerous angles and I've also got particulates, by the looks of it it's just red paint. I was waiting for you to see it before I bagged any of it."

"Thank you Dr. Hodgins, do you have any idea what it means?"

"Not at the moment, I was thinking they could be some of the victims' personal things. I was going to take them to Sweets to look at to see if they've got any significance."

"Okay then, you can bag them now; I'm going to take a look at the body," Brennan said as she walked off towards where the body lay. Booth followed shortly behind her and watched as she knelt down to begin examining the body.

A few minutes later she stood up again which told Booth that she had found out all she could.

"The pelvic bone indicates female, Caucasian, approximately 30 to 35 years of age. Observing these two left broken costae extending from the thoracic vertebrae appears to be broken post-mortem, most likely fractured as they disposed her here. In addition, the fresh maggots suggest the body has only been here for less than 24 hours. Hodgins should be able to tell you exactly when, when the remains gets back to the lab." She stated, then moved closer to the victim; her eyes squinted, "The marking on sternum, suggests the victim was stabbed. Furthermore, these scrapings resemble of a bullet. This however, did not cause the victims death I believe, X-rays will clear that up," she told Booth.

"She was then, brought here to the woods to be burnt." She stood up and walked around the remains, "We'll be able to give you a full identification as soon as she gets brought to the Jeffersonian. I'll have Angela do a facial reconstruction as I don't think there's enough DNA for a match," she explained to him. "Hodgins has already headed back to the lab to start on the particulates that he recovered." Booth shouted orders for the other agents standing around to get the body back to the lab. Then he and Brennan walked back to his SUV so that they could be back at the lab in time for the body.

* * *

The body had arrived before Booth and Brennan so Cam, Angela, Nigel-Murray and Wendell had started on the body without them. They had stopped to pick up some more coffee since they hadn't had some of the coffee that Brennan had made earlier in her apartment.

As they walked in four sets of eyes landed on the two of them; they were late and they both looked _relieved._They walked simultaneously up onto the platform, Booth swiping his card to prevent the alarms.

"What we got?" asked Booth trying to stay away from the body, even after years of working with the squints he still couldn't stand the smell or the sight.

"Well, as Dr. Brennan expected there isn't enough flesh for me to run a DNA test. To be honest I won't be able to get anything from the little flesh that is left, as soon as Hodgins is finished we'll remove the flesh. Nigel Murray and Wendell have been looking for the cause of death and they agree with Dr. Brennan that the victim was stabbed, shot, and burnt; most probably in that order. Once we remove the flesh we can get a better look and Angela can get started on the facial reconstruction," explained Cam.

"I've found all that I can find on the body. There were a few maggots on the body, which should give me time of death or the time when the body was dumped. And I've retrieved some particulates from around the stab wounds; hopefully I'll find out what the weapon was made out of. I'll let you know when I've got something," he said as he walked back to his workstation with the new information that he found.

"Wendell would you and Mr. Nigel-Murray take the body and remove the rest of the flesh. Let me know when it's finished and then I can confirm cause of death." The two doctors nodded as Brennan removed her gloves and walked the familiar way back to her office.

**Thanks for reading, don't forget to review :D. **

**~LittleMiss **


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my previous chapters, its very much appreciated :D. I meant to post this chapter a few days ago but I forgot and then I've been busy the last few days, so my apologies there for the lateness :). I'll post the next chapter saturday or sunday, depending on if I have time between shopping and partying on Saturday :D, it'll be on one of those days though anyway. **

**As always I don't own Bones :(.**

*****Chapter Four*****

"Dr. Brennan we've removed the flesh on the body and sent the skull to Angela to do a facial reconstruction. She said she should have something in a few hours," Wendell explained. Brennan put her lab coat back on as well as a new pair of gloves as she followed the two interns back onto the platform.

"Now we can see more clearly that the body was in fact stabbed and shot. From the look of the bones the bullet passed through here," she explained pointing to the ribs that would've been near to an artery on the right hand side of the body. "Most probably passing through the artery causing the victim to bleed to death; death would only have taken a few minutes."

"Dr. Brennan, there's something with some of the stab wounds that doesn't make sense," Nigel-Murray stated, looking closer at the wounds. Brennan moved around the table to take a closer look, moving the magnifying camera around with her. She agreed with Nigel-Murray that something wasn't right and took a few minutes to take a closer look.

"It looks as though some of the stab wounds started to heal before the victim died. What does this mean Wendell?" she asked her intern.

"That the victim was stabbed numerous times before they were killed. It could suggest that he or she was tortured before they died."

"Well done Mr. Bray," she said sadly. "Would the both of you go and see how far Angela has got with the reconstruction while I see Hodgins? Then could you work out how long the stabbing was inflicted on the victim before cause of death." Both interns nodded their heads. "First I need to call Booth and tell him our findings," she said as she walked off the platform leaving two smiling interns. She had said 'our findings' as in theirs as in she had acknowledge their help. They both walked off to find Angela with their moods brightened.

* * *

Once Brennan had called Booth to tell him their findings on the body she made her way to Hodgins' workstation where he was printing out his latest findings.

"Hey Dr. B, you finished with the body then?"

"I've found out as much as I can for the moment. We discovered that the victim had been stabbed for a few days before cause of death; I have the interns figuring out how long at the moment. Cause of death was gunshot wound to the sternum; the bullet passed through an artery causing the victim to bleed to death. You found anything interesting?" she asked.

"Actually I have. From the particulates around the body, I found some that weren't supposed to be there. They'd been transferred from one crime scene to another. I haven't been able to get a location but I do know that the victim was kept in a shed which housed both gardening equipment and power tools. But, this could be any shed in D.C. I'm looking at the particulates from the wounds now," he explained as Booth walked back into the lab and up to where the two of them were standing. Hodgins quickly retold Booth everything that he'd told Brennan to keep him up to date.

"So he or she was tortured in a shed before she was shot in the chest which led to her bleeding to death?" he asked. "We still don't know what either of the weapons are or how long she was tortured for?"

"We're still working on it," Brennan confirmed. "Wendell and Nigel-Murray are looking now to see if they can get an estimate on how long she was tortured for and Angela is trying to get an identity on the victim."

"And I'm looking for what stabbed our victim. Tests should be done in two minutes." They stood around in an awkward silence while they waited for Hodgins' computer to tell them what the weapon had been made from.

After a few silent minutes the computer beeped letting them know that the tests had completed. Hodgins looked over the results quickly so that he could translate it into something Booth would understand.

"In simple English, the victim was stabbed with a copper instrument; this could be a number of things though a copper pipe, a knife or a number of Egyptian artifacts," Hodgins stated. Booth looked at Brennan who looked to the floor avoiding eye contact. Obviously, she was thinking the same as he was. "Oh..." Hodgins said as he realised what the tension was about.

"Bones, when was the last time you saw Max?" he asked. He expected her to stay silent so he was surprised when she answered his question.

"I saw him a week ago; we met up for coffee at the park and then we went over to Pete's for dinner. Pete had his father round for dinner also and he and my father were good friends when I was younger, that's how I met Pete. They got talking and planned a vacation to Florida to meet up with another friend of theirs. They're supposed to come back tomorrow," she explained.

"Who did he go with?"

"Tom... Edwards," she said barely above whisper. Hodgins' eyes flew open at the sound of the name.

"I'm gonna go and check on Angela," he said, giving himself a reason to leave the two of them alone.

"You mean the Tommy Edwards who's recently been let on parole for murdering a woman?" Brennan nodded a silent confirmation. "The same person who's been suspected of murdering dozens more, but never convicted? Both men and women? He kills anyone Bones," Booth yelled. He wasn't angry at her, he was angry at her being in the same room as a murderer. Max was okay, she was his daughter, but Tommy Edwards... that was a different matter altogether.

"I know," she murmured. "But he's not like that Booth, he didn't kill people for fun, he's like my dad; he's protecting his family. He wouldn't hurt me, he classes me, my dad, and Russ as family, he wouldn't hurt me I promise," she stated. Booth still didn't like it, even though she obviously trusted the man but he didn't want to argue with her. Instead, he took a deep breath and changed the topic slightly.

"Do you know who they went to see?" he asked her.

"No, all they said was that he was an old friend that they had met when he was on the run from the police; he helped him out or something. I don't know Booth," she admitted and Booth knew she was telling the truth.

"It's okay Bones; it's not your fault. I just don't want to see you in danger. Let's go see if Angela has a name for us yet," he suggested. Brennan agreed and they walked to Angela's office together.

* * *

"I'm telling you I looked everywhere and I can't match the face anywhere!" Angela exclaimed. "I've looked on Missing Persons and the FBI database and everywhere else... There's no where I haven't looked. But she is nowhere to be found," Angela exclaimed as Booth and Brennan walked into her office.

"So I guess that answers my question," Booth said, announcing both his and Brennan's entrance into the room.

"Guess it does Booth, sorry. As I said before; I've looked everywhere and I can't seem to get a hit," she said handing Booth the paper pad she had drawn the sketch on.

Brennan's eyes widen in shock as she saw the face that Angela had drawn. This hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone but they had all silently decided to let Booth handle it.

"Bones, are you okay? Do you know who this is?" he asked her gently.

"It's... It's... That is Rachel Kent; I met her and her husband just over five years ago. She was supposed to be on a camping family trip this weekend, that's why she wasn't in this morning. She lives at the house we stopped at this morning, the first one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Booth, I'm sure," she murmured. "They weren't home this morning and there's no missing persons report... Andy would have filed a missing persons report... which means they've all been taken," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Sweetie, have you got anything we could match it to, like a photo or something."

"Yeah, I've got some photos in my office, I'll be two minutes," she said walking to retrieve the photo, leaving everyone in the room to stare at each other. All worried about Brennan. She walked back into the room minutes later holding a single photo.

She handed the photo to Angela who scanned it into the computer. The photo was of Brennan and Rachel in the park three weeks ago. All of the children had been there as well as Madeline's mother and the family dogs. It had been a warm and sunny day. The adults had sunbathed while the kids had played then they had all had a water fight to cool down. It had been the perfect day. And to make it even better Booth had stopped by later that night with Tai food.

Brennan was brought out of her thoughts as the computer beeped. "It's a match," Angela confirmed handing her the results that had just printed. Brennan just stood still and nodded her head as tears started to swim in her eyes.

**Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review :D**

**~LittleMiss :). **


	5. Chapter 5

**Had to re-upload this chapter due to some mistakes. All is fine now and it makes no difference to the story =).**

**(a/n) Had to re-upload it again because the dividers didn't work! But now all is good... I think :P**

*****Chapter Five*** **

They had confirmed that her friend, Rachel Kent, was dead. She had watched as the computer matched the picture to the skull. The _victim _they had found burnt in the woods, the _remains_ that had been brutely treated, had been her friend. The one woman who had helped her through the toughest time of her life was now lying on a cold metal table in the lab that she worked at. There had been no missing person's report, which told Brennan only one thing; her husband and her children were missing – nowhere to be found. She didn't know exactly how she felt, there weren't enough words in the world to describe how she felt. However, this feeling of utter helplessness was not foreign to her, it was the same felling she had when she discovered her mother was dead.

Currently, she was sitting in Booth's SUV on the way to the house that they had visited the very same morning, only now she knew why nobody was home. There was an awkward silence in the car, nobody knew what to say; there were no words that they _could_ say. Booth had asked Hodgins and Cam to come along with them to the house to collect particulates and photographs that could be helpful to the case. Booth pulled up outside of the two storey house feeling a sense of déjà vu. Silently, they all climbed out of the car and up to the front door. Booth knocked on the door just in case the rest of the family was home, the chance was slim but he took it anyway. When there was no answer nobody, was shocked.

Booth backed away from the door, ready to break it down to gain access to the house, as Brennan walked closer to the door removing a key from her back pocket. "I think they'd prefer it if you didn't ruin the door," she stated with a hint of humour in her voice. Together, they all walked through the door and into the small hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Everything looked normal, to them as they walked through the house, excluding Brennan who knew everything was different; wrong. She could sense that something wasn't right, something her 'gut' told her; a feeling that she had never trusted before but today there was nothing else to go on.

From where she stood Brennan could just about see through the door which lead into the living room, the room which gave the most evidence that one of her worst nightmares was now reality. She slowly walked into the room bracing herself for what she was about to see. It was all clear except for one cupboard. One cupboard in the corner of the room; one cupboard made by Andy from an old oak tree they used to have in the back garden. On the top surface there was a line of eight drops of blood. It wasn't much, definitely not enough to kill someone but it was the fact that it was their blood which brought tears to Brennan's eyes. She turned to look at Booth as he followed her into the room when something caught her eye.

"Rory's not there," she whispered. "They didn't leave voluntarily Booth, Rory's not there. Maddie would've made sure Rory was guarding the house if they had. He would be sat right there on the sofa if they had," Brennan explained closed to tears as she pointed to the empty space on the sofa.

"We'll find them Bones, I promise. Cam and Hodgins are looking around the house now to see if they can find anything and then they're going to swab the blood on the top of that cupboard to make a match. Could you do one thing for me?" he asked. He waited for her to nod her head before he continued. "You know this house better than all of us, could you have a look around to see if there is anything different or if anything has been taken?" he asked her. Once again she nodded her head and her eyes scanned the room.

"There's a photo missing," she whispered. "There should be a framed photo in the centre of the mantelpiece. I'll have a look around the rest of the house." Booth watched as she slowly walked out of the room, still looking around her to check for any more missing items. Cam gave her a sympathetic smile as she passed her on the way into the room.

"Hodgins has found a few particulates in the hallway and we've took all of the fingerprints from the door; hopefully we'll get lucky and find something but the chances aren't looking that good," she admitted. "Has Dr. Brennan told you how she knew the victim yet because walking round the house there are quite a few pictures that she is in; looks like they were close."

"She didn't actually mention any names, she asked me to stop by the house before we went to the crime scene," he told her, still keeping his promise to Bones. "All she said was that she was a family friend who had helped her through a difficult situation. They were supposed to be camping for the weekend," he summarised as she put on a fresh pair of gloves and moved over to the cupboard so that she could begin collecting the different blood drops.

* * *

Booth and Brennan were back in Brennan's office later than afternoon. All that had been taken was the photo from the living room and the children's 'special' teddy bears. Each child that was in the care of Rachel and Andy had been given a teddy on the day of their arrival; a on-going tradition that had started before Brennan had met them. Currently, Brennan was trying to get a hold of Andy's sister to tell her the situation but she wasn't picking up the phone. After the second ring on the fourth call someone picked up the phone on the other end.

"_Dr. Sarah Kent speaking," _a young woman answered.

"Sarah, it's me Temperance Brennan, I'm friends with your brother, Andy, he takes care of my son," she began.

"_Oh hello, Tempe, it's been a while since I saw you. Is everything okay?" _she asked, worry forming in her voice the more she spoke. Any moment now she would ruin somebody's life, tell them something that would change their life forever. She hated herself for doing it, but it had to be done.

"Andy and the children are missing, someone took them, the last time I saw them was Friday afternoon; they were supposed to be on a camping trip."

"_And Rachel?"_ she sobbed. At the sound of the woman's sobbing Brennan, herself, couldn't help but cry silently herself. She couldn't find it in herself to continue, instead she looked at Booth pleading him to say it for her.

"Dr. Kent, this is Special Agent Seeley Booth, I'm afraid we found your sister-in-laws body this morning," Booth explained as he wrapped one arm around Brennan's waist pulling her closer to him. On the other end of the line, Sarah began to sob harder. Brennan immediately felt guilty as there was no one there to comfort her like she had got Booth. "Dr. Kent, I know this is a hard time but do you think you could come to the Hoover Building to answer some questions about your brother?" he asked.

"_I'll be there as soon as possible; I'll get the next flight from Arizona to DC," _she agreed, holding the sobs back so that she was able to talk.

"Thank you, Dr. Kent, we'll speak to you soon," Booth said as he hung up the phone. He put the phone back down on her desk before he wrapped his other arm around Brennan pulling her closer to him. She sighed into his chest as her kissed the top of her head.

* * *

"So I've found out everything that I can about Rachel Kent and her family. How are you doing with the blood tests?" Angela asked as she walked into Cam's office with a file of everything that she'd found in her hand.

"I received all of the family's medical records this morning and I'm just running the tests now, they should be done in about five minutes. What did you find?" she asked.

"Rachel Kent, 33-years-old, married Andrew Kent, 35-years-old, thirteen years ago in Florida. They moved to DC seven years ago. Andrew Kent works as a lawyer, all of his all records are on their way, while Rachel stays at home to look after their seven children. The ages range from fifteen to one; Georgia Kent is the oldest, they have an eleven-year-old named Elizabeth, a nine-year-old names Chloe, Madeline is seven years old, a five-year-old son named Zach, as well as a son who's three called Ben, and finally they have a sixteen-month-old daughter named Amie. However there were only eight drops of blood, meaning that one is missing," Angela explained as she handed the file to Cam.

"Just by looking at the files, I know that there's something not right about them," Cam admitted as she flicked through the file in her hand.

"Whys that?" Angela asked, as the computer beeped to let them know that the results were complete.

"All of the children, except for Georgia, are in no way related to Andrew and Rachel Kent. Georgia is related to Andrew but only partially. The rest of the children have a different blood type to both _parents_. And looking at the blood results on the screen none of the children are related to each other either," Cam explained. "The only blood that I can't compare anything to is the blood of Zach Kent, there wasn't any of his blood at the scene."

"Oh," Angela said, shocked at the results.

"Maybe Dr. Brennan will be able to explain the situation to us once she's finished talking to the sister," Cam suggested, also in shock about the results. They'd not had a case like this in a while, in fact, Cam couldn't remember the last time a case had given these results.

"What situation that Brennan needs to explain?" asked Hodgins as he walked into the room. Angela and Cam, together, quickly told Hodgins what they had found out leaving him in the same reaction that they had both had.

"Oh. My. Gosh," Hodgins stated, pronouncing all of the words as their own sentence. "And you say there's no record of them ever legally adopting the children. They have legal custody of all the children?" Hodgins asked to confirm what he'd heard. Angela nodded her head. "Do you think they've kidnapped them all or something?" asked Hodgins, conspiracies running around in her head.

"If those children had been kidnapped how did they get legal custody of them all. On every document I can find, Rachel and Andrew Kent are listed as their parents."

"They could have been forged," Hodgins suggested, leaving them all to think in silence thinking about what could be the truth.

**All is done (: Please don't forget to review... It makes my day!**

**LittleMiss (:**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back from my holidays so here is the next chapter like I promised :). Thanks to those who read the last chapter and also took the time to review it :). **

**As always I don't own Bones :(. **

*****Chapter Six*****

"Dr. Brennan has asked that you call her when you have something," Nigel-Murray announced as he walked into Cam's office, where the lingering stillness stood over Cam, Angela, and Hodgins.

"She's gone?" Angela questioned.

"They left about ten minutes ago; she and Agent Booth said they needed to be somewhere, dinner plans I think," he told them, confused as to why it was a surprise to them. Agent Booth always made sure Dr. Brennan had something to eat; for lunch and dinner.

* * *

"Mummy," Zach yelled as he collided into Brennan's arms. Booth and Brennan had just walked through the door to Pete's house when she felt the familiar arms of her son wrap around her neck. "Me and Dill have been playing _all _day! And now we're playing hide and seek and I'm supposed to be hiding! Bye mummy," he exclaimed, kissing her on the cheek before running off to find a place to hide.

"Hey Pete," Brennan greeted as she stood up and got pulled into another hug by Pete.

"Dinner will be done soon, it's not much just some mac and cheese," he said, greeting Booth by shaking his hand. "Zach and Dill are somewhere around the house and I think the twins are in the living room. Feel free to join them, they're just doing some homework or watching TV." Pete walked back into the kitchen to finish dinner while Booth and Brennan hung up their coats and went into the living room.

"Hey, I'm Jess and that's my brother James," the girl that Booth had seen earlier introduced, pointing to the boy who was sat on the floor with papers scattered around him. "You must be Booth, finally nice to meet you."

"You too," Booth said shaking her hand, unsure what to do next. He followed Brennan to the sofa where she sat down looking at the papers that the twins were looking at.

"Algebra," James sighed. "At least now I have an excuse to stop for a while," he said getting up off of the floor and sitting down in the chair opposite, staring into space, while Jess opted to sit down next to Brennan.

"How've you been," Brennan asked. "I didn't see you last time I was here." Jess laid her head down on Brennan's shoulder and sighed. To Booth's surprised she acted as though it happened every day and started rubbing her arm comfortingly. Obviously, Brennan had known and trusted this family a long time. There was a lot that he didn't know about her.

"It's going to be three years tomorrow," she whispered sadly.

"I know it is, I know, but as I said before; Things will get better, I promise," Brennan said.

"What happened three years ago?" Booth asked curiously. Normally he would've left it and minded his own business but he knew absolutely nothing about this family that his partner trusted so much, he just wanted a bit of insight.

"Why don't you ask your boss," James snapped.

"James," Jess sighed. "Don't," she pleaded. James glared at her as he walked out of the room to help his father with dinner. "Sorry about my brother, he took it the hardest I think, well apart from dad of course. Three years ago, tomorrow my mum was walking home from the stores... She walked straight into the middle of an FBI shoot-out. Nobody stopped her, nobody tried to warn her, and they just let her walk right through the middle of it. An FBI agent shot at her, accidentally of course, and she died on the way to the hospital," Jess explained. She sat up and wiped a few stray tears that had leaked. "Both my dad and James resent the FBI because of what happened. I don't blame them really, but then I don't blame the FBI either, it was an accident." Jess took in a deep breath as her father called her in from the kitchen, asking her to set the table with her brother. She smiled weakly at Brennan and left the room, leaving Booth and Brennan in silence.

"It's just been the four of them ever since. The twins have really helped him out over the past few years and I try to help out as much as I can," Brennan told him.

"He's nothing like his father is he," Booth asked, more than a statement than an actual question.

"No, he's nothing like his father, neither is his brother, Freddie, either. We've been friends with the family ever since childhood, through our fathers, but when I was put into foster care we lost contact. Four years ago, we met up again in a coffee shop and we've stayed in contact ever since." The conversation changed as Dylan and Zach ran into the room and turned on the TV to watch some cartoons. "I just need to talk to Pete for a minute, are you going to be all right here?" Brennan asked as she got up to leave.

"Sure, I'll just watch some cartoons with the kids," he laughed. Brennan nodded and shot him a smile as she walked out of the room and headed towards the kitchen where Pete was.

* * *

"How are you holding up?" Brennan asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Fine, it's getting easier I supposed. As time goes on things get better, just got to deal with it I guess. How's your case going?" he asked as he checked the food in the oven.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Brennan admitted. "The body we found was Rachel's."

"You mean Rachel as in Rachel and Andy?" he asked, she nodded confirming what he was thinking. "What about Andy and the kids? I mean, are they dead too?"

"I don't know if they're dead, but they are missing. The only reason I can think of someone wanting to kill them is because of the children, but then again only the parents know about it and it's an optional decision that could be reversed at any time."

"It could be Andy's job, he is a lawyer after all," Pete suggested.

"It could be, but I don't think so. Something about the case doesn't look like it's anything to do with any of Andy's clients or the people he's put in jail. I'm worried Pete, what if it is someone who knows what they do, what happens if everything gets revealed. I'm worried," she admitted.

"Okay," Pete sighed. He put his face in his hands while he thought of what to do. "I'll help you in whatever way I can, we'll find out who's behind this all and put a stop to it. I'll call my dad later, I'll see what he would do. They should be back tomorrow so there's no doubt that they'll help. I promise you. But one quick question. Why don't you trust your FBI friend?"

"They have no idea what they're getting themselves in to. It'll all be new to them; they don't know anything about the situation whereas you do. You've been there through most of it, you know the most," Brennan admitted.

"Okay, I promise I'll help you with anything but first we're eating," he said as he took the food out of the oven. He divided the food up between the seven plates and the two of them took them into the dining room where James and Jess had just finished setting the table.

_

* * *

"Let me out!" she screamed through the small slit in the wall. They had been here for three days but it felt more like three years. Here, was a cramped small room with wooden walls and a concrete floor. When they had arrived, they had been split up, she didn't know where the others were, and all she knew was that she was in a room with Ben and Amie, her two youngest _siblings_._

_A few blankets had been thrown in for them but they hardly kept them warm. The draft in the day was terrible but it got even worse at night, she did all she could to keep the younger two warm but it still wasn't enough – their teeth chattered all through the night meaning they got little or no sleep most nights. Food was given to them through a small hatch in the door; it wasn't much but food was food and she needed to keep their strengths up._

_The two younger children were too young to understand what was happening, all they knew was that they wanted to go home, but Georgia, at fifteen, knew that it wasn't good. Someone had taken the whole family and the future didn't look good, if they even had a future._

_She could hear the screams of her _sisters_ from down the corridor; Ellie, Chloe, and Maddie were locked together in room. Well hopefully they were together; she had been locked in a room first meaning that she didn't know where anyone else was._

_She knew someone was dead. She was guessing it was her _mum _Rachel from the screams and sobs, which echoed through the dark walls. She still heard three screams coming from her left and a man sobbing, probably her _dad_, from her right and she was sure that her _mum_ was in a room with, or near, her _father_. She had heard the shots early this morning; it was what had waked her up. Thankfully, neither Amie nor Ben had woken up during the noise meaning that she didn't have to explain what was happening just yet._

* * *

"So I'll ring you later," Pete said. Dinner had gone well, there had been no awkward moments, and both Pete and James had been civil to the FBI Agent. They had talked about general things like what they did for a living, any plans that they had, what was happening at school etc.

Once Brennan had put her own coat on, she helped Zach into his who was still trying to change the transformer Dylan had lent him.

"Thanks Pete, I'll speak to you later." Brennan hugged Pete before following behind Booth and leading Zach out of the house.

Booth took Zach to the car while Brennan talked to Pete about their fathers. Booth had only known Zach for one day but he already loved him; maybe it was because he was Brennan's son. He helped the small boy into the car and was fastening his seatbelts on the car-seat that they had taken from Brennan's car earlier in the day.

"Mummy talks about you all the time you know," Zach admitted spontaneously. "Me, Dill and James were talking 'bout it, but I can't tell you 'cause it's a secret, and then Jess told us to shut up 'cause it's none of our business. And then Jess and James got in a fight 'cause it's _my _business 'cause she's my mummy and then Uncle Pete told us to stop fighting and then me and Dill went to play on his new game for his PlayStation," explained Zach as best as he could. "Me, Dill and James talked 'bout it in secret and they think that she like like's you but she always say's that you're just partners," he added showing his confusion.

"Really? Well I'll let you in on a little secret, I love your mummy," he said; finally glad to tell someone even if it was Brennan's five-year-old son. Zach smiled at him, happy that a man that he'd only just met had told him a really big secret.

Booth shut the door as he heard the front door to the house shut and Brennan's footsteps as she walked down the garden path. They stood looking at each other for a few seconds before Brennan hugged him whispered "thank you" in his ear.

"It's no problem Bones, it was nice, I enjoyed it," he admitted. Both of them were smiling as they climbed into the car and drove off.

**So there's that chapter, hope you liked it :). Please review and tell me what you think; only takes a few seconds :P. **

**~LittleMiss :). **


	7. Chapter 7

**(a/n) Thanks to everyone who read my last chapter and virtual cookies to all those who reviewed (: **

**A big thanks to my beta-reader, BonEsFantastic.**

*****Chapter Seven*****

Brennan was still rushing around the house when the doorbell rang the next morning. Zach answered the door for her as she went into the bedroom to change the top she had just spilled coffee down.

"Hi Booth," Zach announced as he opened the door for Booth. "I didn't tell mummy, you're secrets still safe," he told Booth as he walked through the door.

"You won't have to keep it secret for long kiddo," Booth promised. He wanted – _needed_ to tell Brennan that he was in love with her, but he didn't know how, when or even where to do it. Zach shut the door then ran back into the kitchen where his breakfast was waiting for him. Booth followed behind him, smiling as he saw Brennan leaning against the counter drinking the coffee that she'd finally gotten to drink. "Morning Bones," he greeted, flashing her his charm smile.

"Hey Booth," she said, drinking the rest of her coffee and putting the mug on the counter to wash later.

"So the plan for this morning; we'll drop Zach off at Pete's, then we'll talk to Sarah Kent who should be at the Hoover building by now and then I'll take you back to the lab. That sound like a plan?" suggested Booth.

"Sounds like a plan to me," agreed Brennan, starting to pack Zach's bag of the things he would need during the day.

"I don't like it," Zach announced, chewing a mouthful of cereal.

"Any why is that? Does it have anything to do with the fact that you have to go to school this morning?" Brennan asked. During the week he loved school, especially Fridays but like every other child, he hated Monday mornings.

"No," he lied, looking down at his now empty cereal bowl. "I just wanna play with Dill again."

"You can do that… _after_ school," Brennan said, still with smiling at her son's comment.

"Well come on then, chop chop," Booth said clapping his hands together making Brennan laugh and remember old memories. Zach ran to get his shoes and coat on while Brennan put his bowl in the sink along with the cup. She grabbed Zach's bag and her coat and followed Booth out of her apartment, locking the door behind her.

* * *

Booth pulled up in front of Pete's familiar white house, this time there were no kids playing out in the front yard but the toys were still spread all over the grass. Booth waited in the car while Brennan helped Zach out and followed him up the path, which lead to the house. Through the window, Pete saw them approach and went to the door to greet them.

Zach took off his shoes and coat then ran upstairs to find Dylan and the others.

"I called my dad last night and he and Max have said that they'd obviously help you with whatever you need. They set off early this morning so they should be back later tonight, they're also bringing a friend that they met down there with them; Charlie Jones. I don't know if you know who he is but…."

"Of course I know who he is Pete, who doesn't. If they both trust him then why shouldn't we, they wouldn't bring him if they didn't think he would be any use," Brennan said, cutting him off.

"I know, I know… It's just, oh it doesn't matter. Anyway, we'll meet up tonight; if you meet me back here at eleven we'll drive up to an old warehouse that dad use to stay in whenever he was in town. We'll talk about everything there, would you be able to find out everything you can about the crime scene, body, evidence etcetera?" he asked, talking fast so that she could get back to Booth without him getting too suspicious.

"I'll try to," she agreed. "I'll pick up Zach later, get some dinner and I'll ask Booth to look after him. I'll see you at eleven," she agreed. They both said 'good bye' as Brennan walked back down the path and climbed into Booth's black SUV.

* * *

"You okay there Bones?" asked a concerned Booth as they drove to the Hoover building. "You seem a little off."

"I'm fine Booth, Max asked me to meet up with him for coffee when he gets back tonight. Pete's busy and he can't look after Zach and I know that I can't take him with me, it'll cause too many questions," she lied. She hated telling Booth lies and normally he could detect them but this time it seemed to have worked.

"I'll look after him," Booth offered.

"Booth... I can't... I mean, you don't have to."

"Bones, I want to. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to look after him?" he asked rhetorically.

"Thank you," she said as they pulled up at the Hoover building.

* * *

"So, you're telling me that you haven't spoken to your brother, Andrew Kent, in months?" asked Booth. They had been talking to Sarah Kent for almost forty-five minutes but so far, they had gotten nowhere, she claimed to know nothing, but Booth could sense something was off – she was hiding something.

"Yes, I was planning to visit in a few days but he called me to rearrange it when he first planned the camping trip, I planned to visit them next Saturday. We've both been busy so, as I said before, I haven't talked to him in months," she restated. Booth knew she was hiding something from them, he just couldn't figure out what. He looked to Brennan to see if she could see something but she looked to be in a silent conversation with the sister. Brennan caught that Booth was looking at them and quickly lost eye contact with Sarah to look at Booth. She took the file off of the desk and began to look through it.

"We have records here that show that you called Andy two days before they were taken; on the Wednesday," Brennan said regretfully, she wanted to help Sarah, as they both kept the same secret, but on the other hand she needed to show Booth that she was with him on this.

"Crap," Sarah whispered under her breath. She kicked herself mentally for not thinking that they would get her phone records. "He rang me to remind me of his plans, like I would forget; it's normally him that forgets everything. He told me that they were going out of town for a while and not to come to see them or ring them because they were going somewhere without cell reception. Actually, he was acting really strange," she admitted, rather to herself than the two others in the room.

"Strange how?" asked Booth.

"Everything he was telling me was _vague_, all of the details, even though he had already told me all of his plans before. Now that I think about it, it didn't really sound like him."

"You think someone called you claiming to be your brother, and you're only just telling us this information now?" Booth asked in disbelieve.

"I've only just thought about it until now!" Sarah began, her voice raised. "I didn't suspect anything was off at the time, why would I? I didn't know that my brother and his family were going to be kidnapped and killed when I got the call, did I? I didn't think anything of it," she yelled, as tears started running down her face as everything clicked together. Brennan moved around to the other side of the room to comfort the woman she had grown fond of in the time she had known Rachel and Andy.

"I'm sorry Dr. Kent, that's all we need for today. Can I ask you to stay in town for the duration of the investigation, just in case we need any more information?" Booth asked. Sarah nodded through her tears, while still being comforted by Brennan. Booth exited the room to give the two woman time alone.

_

* * *

The screams woke her up once again. All three of her sisters down the corridor were screaming, both in pain and fear. Thankfully, Ben and Amie weren't woken by the noise – they had finally passed out from exhaustion a few hours earlier. It wasn't the most ideal thing that could happen but at least they were getting some rest._

"_Stop it, please, don't do it," he father begged from opposite her, obviously he was able to see more than she could and truthfully a part of her was thankful for that. "Kill me, kill me instead of her," he begged as the screaming continued. Then the other part that wanted to see what was happening kicked in as scenes of what could've been happening began playing in her head._

_She put her hands over her ears as the screaming continued to try to block out the noise but it was no use. The screaming, the yelling,__and the begging all merged into one sound around her as she focused on the small specks of dirt on the floor. Despite her desperate tries nothing was working, she could still hear everything._

_Tears started to pour down her face as everything went silent,__nothing but stillness, the screams everything stopped when the sudden and fearful echo of a gunshot bounced from wall to wall._

_Someone else was dead._

_She heard her dad's yells break through the silence but her sisters sobbed quietly, their screams were no good any more. It had ended. Another member of their family was dead and there was nothing anybody could do about it._

* * *

"Bren, can we talk to you for a minute?" Angela announced as soon as she walked through the doors of the lab. Booth had just dropped her off at the entrance, as she needed to see if they had discovered anything else as he looked into the unknown caller who had claimed to be Andrew Kent, two days before he had disappeared. He was coming back later to take both her and Zach out to dinner before he babysat.

Brennan nodded her head as she followed Angela into her office where Cam and Hodgins were waiting. Suddenly, Brennan got worried with what they were about to ask or tell her.

"Dr. Brennan, we ran the blood results this morning while you were gone but even looking at their medical files I could tell that something wasn't right," Cam began as she handed the files over to Brennan.

"What did you find," she asked, flipping through the file despite already knowing the answer to her own question. Her heart was metaphorically beating a hundred miles-per-hour as she tried to keep a straight face.

"Biologically, Andrew and Rachel Kent are not the parents of the children in their custody. They all have a different blood type meaning that none of them is related to each other either. We were wondering if you had an explanation for this?"

Brennan took a deep breath and shook her head before responding to the question she had been asked. She had to think of a believable lie and fast; she couldn't risk them finding out. "I've been friends with both Andy and Rachel for five years, I don't know about the older children but the younger ones are definitely theirs, there's no other way possible," she lied.

"Are you sure about that?" Angela asked, the only one out of the three brave enough to do it. She had been friends with Brennan for a long time and even now, she knew there was things that she had never told her. Things she had kept from everyone, including Booth.

"I'm sure Ange."

"Okay then," said Hodgins breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between them. "That clears that up." He looked at Cam and Angela who were both thinking the same things as he was.

"There's just one more thing," Cam stated as she turned the page in the file Brennan was still holding onto Zach Kent's medical records. "At the scene we were only able to collect and test eight drops of blood; however there are nine people in the family."

"There was no blood for their five-year-old son, Zach Kent," Angela finished. They all looked at Brennan once again who was looking down at her sons medical records. Even with the picture, they had not noticed any similarities between her and Zach – they had not made the link and discovered that she was his mother.

"I... I don't know why... Why would I know?" she stammered.

"Do you know where he is or where he was on the day of the kidnapping?" Hodgins asked. Brennan felt as though they were starting to 'gang up' on her even though rationally they were just trying to figure things out and solve the investigation, like they normally would.

"I... I don't know where he was. He was supposed to be going camping with them... Last time... the last time I saw him, he couldn't wait to go camping," she told them. It wasn't entirely a lie, Zach was in fact excited about going camping. The only reason he wasn't with them now, wherever they were, was because he had gotten ill. "They were all really excited," she admitted.

"Bren, you are positive that Rachel and Andrew Kent are the parents of all of the children?" Angela clarified. Even if Brennan answered yes to the question none of them would be satisfied, DNA didn't lie. They would have to look into it further on their own.

"Yes, I'm positive. They are the parents of all of the children, including Zach Kent," she lied. Her voice breaking and tears threatening to fall as she, once again, lied about the existence of her own son. They saw the tears fill up in her eyes and were hit with a mixture of concern and confusion; they were concerned with their friend, as they all knew that she was lying to them for some reason but also confused as to why she was crying and why she was lying.

Before anyone could question her, Booth rushed into the room, hanging up his phone. Brennan quickly brushed away the tears knowing that Booth would demand an answer if he saw them even if there were things of a higher importance. Fortunately, he didn't see them and nobody else mentioned them.

"FBI have just got a call, someone's called in telling them that they've seen smoked coming from a patch of woods on the outskirts of town. It could be nothing, but I think we should check it out just in case." Brennan nodded in agreement, not trusting her words just in case tears came along with them as she grabbed her coat and bag. "We might need you too Hodgins."

"If you give me the directions I'll grab all of the gear and meet you there." Booth scribbled the address on a piece of scrap paper as he waited for Brennan to grab the basic things she would need when they got there.

**Thanks for reading (: Please review, if you do i'll send you a virtual cookie XD. **

**~LittleMiss (:**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to everyone who read my story last time and a big thanks to the 3 people who took the time to review (: **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bones; Never have and probably never will - but i can dream right? :P **

*****Chapter Eight*****

"You've not seen the body then yet?" asked Hodgins walking up behind where Booth and Brennan stood. Bright orange flames still danced about in the sky even though fire-fighters tried to water them down with the huge hoses attached to the big red trucks. Even through the flames, a body could be seen.

"Nope, they're dying down now though; it was a lot worse when we first arrived," Booth admitted. It could've been anyone lying in the flames but the likely-hood of another person being murdered, by somebody else, and then burnt in the woods were slim, especially since it was so close to the previous murder. They waited in a seemingly comfortable silence, watching as the fire fighters continued to battle with the flames.

When the flames had finally gone Brennan and Hodgins started scouring the crime scene for information. Brennan headed to the body while Hodgins looked for any evidence in the surrounding area. Booth stood back watching and waiting to assist. Hodgins had gone deeper into the woods to look for any more evidence once he had collected all the particulates he could find nearby so Booth stood there observing Brennan, the emotion embedded deep into her eyes as she looked over the body.

The need and the want to go over to her and comfort her was overwhelming and he suddenly felt himself walking closer to where she stood. He knew she would kill him for it later but he still rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. Surprisingly, she turned around, taking her gloves off, and smiled at him weekly.

"It's one of the girls," she whispered under her breath just enough for Booth to hear her.

"Bones, you don't know that; it could be another girl, the same age as them. A totally random case," Booth suggested, even though he knew it probably wasn't true as soon as he had even thought it, he just needed to give her some hope.

"Booth, the likely-hood of that is... I just know, okay? I just know."

"Okay Bones, I know what you mean. Why don't you tell me what you know?" he suggested. Brennan nodded her head before explaining, using terms that he barely understood.

"The pelvic bone tells me that the victim is female, she is approximately seven to twelve-years-old. The body hasn't been here for very long; most likely an hour, maybe even less. The body is in the same condition as Rachel's was; she's been stabbed and then shot," she said taking a deep breath. "It's either Chloe, Ellie or Maddie. It's too young to be Georgia and too old to be Amie," she admitted.

"Okay Bones, that's good. Is that everything you found?"

"Yeah, we should be able to find out more when we get her back to the lab."

* * *

Hodgins had called them over to where he was in a deeper part of the woods.

"It's just like last time," he said as Booth and Brennan walked closer to what he was looking at. Just like the previous crime scene there was a circle of red paint on the ground, however this time in the centre was a stuffed toy dog. It was in pristine condition apart from where it had been re-stitched up the middle of the chest. The toy looked familiar to Brennan and suddenly she remembered it to be one of the children's toys.

"What is it Bones?" a concerned Booth asked as he saw the look in her eyes change.

"That's one of their toys. I can't remember whose it is, but it's one of theirs," she told them.

"But why though? Why put a random toy, which they probably had loads of, in a circle which obviously meant something at the last crime scene?" asked Hodgins as he took a sample of the paint to test later.

"It's not a random toy though," Brennan admitted. "When they were born, they all had a _special_ toy that they've kept with them all through their childhood. It's sort of like a tradition that Rachel and Andy have. I don't know why or when it started, I just know it's carried on for all of their children," she clarified. "No two are the same, but I just can't _remember_ who this one belongs to," she said, frustration evident in her voice.

"It's okay Bones, we'll have an ID soon enough, don't worry over it," Booth soothed, rubbing calming circles on Brennan's back. He shot a worried glance at Hodgins who had just bagged the teddy unsure what to do next.

* * *

They arrived back at the lab just as the body was being laid on to another autopsy table on the platform. Cam, Angela, and Nigel-Murray were already looking at the body to find out any new information; Wendell had been given the day off so that he could spend some of his time working on his dissertation. Rachel's body was laying next to the new one so they could compare any similarities in injuries.

Brennan took a deep breath before walking up onto the platform behind Booth and Hodgins, preparing herself to look at the little girls' remains.

"From what I've seen already, there's not enough flesh for me to run a DNA test," Cam said as they walked up onto the platform.

"I got what I could from the body at the crime scene, there wasn't a lot there to begin with because of the fire, so you can clean the body as soon as you are ready," Hodgins stated, collecting all the evidence he needed and walking to his workstation to begin testing.

"Dr. Brennan, did any of the girls have any medical history which we could use either for identification or to rule them out? It'll take less time than running dental records or doing a facial reconstruction," Cam explained even though she knew Brennan knew what she was telling her.

"No, not that I know... Actually, Ellie broke her finger last year," she said, trying to think of anything else valuable, but coming up with nothing. The more she tried to remember, the more she forgot.

"That's okay Bones, right Cam?" Cam nodded, briefly looking up from the body and then focusing again. "Nigel-Murray and Cam have got it from here so why don't you go and relax in your office for a few minutes." Brennan sighed, it was pointless to even try to argue with Booth, and deep down she knew he was only looking out for her... That's what _partners_ did. They waited until Brennan had walked down the steps and was nearly at her office before they started talking again.

"Are you sure she's okay Booth? I mean, she didn't even fight with you about going to her office, she just went," Cam asked, concern evident in her voice.

"I honestly don't know," he admitted. "I agree, she's not acting herself but then again I don't know if I know the real Bones any more. I've only just found out about someone who, according to her, is a big part of her life... An old childhood friend."

"Maybe there's a reason she was hiding him from you," Cam suggested. Booth nodded while he tried to think of a suitable and believable lie that wouldn't announce that Brennan had a secret son.

Before he had the chance, Angela walked up onto the platform with the medical records of the three girls.

"Who's hiding who from whom?" Angela asked. Cam quickly told her as Booth sighed; he was never going to think of something that would be reasonable enough now.

"She's acting strange Booth, what's up?" asked Angela, fortunately avoiding the subject.

"Why would I know," he asked innocently.

"Because you're her best friend and _partner_, and you're the one she turns to when she needs help." Booth sighed; this was fight that he'd never win.

"I know, I've noticed how she's acting and I'm just as worried as you are, trust me. I know that she's got some secrets which none of us know, but I also know that she will tell them when she's ready and when she needs to," he explained as briefly as he could. He could tell that both of them were not satisfied with his answer so instead of more questions he walked off of the platform and headed towards Brennan's office.

* * *

Booth had gone back to the Hoover Building after he had checked up on Brennan who, at the time, was sat looking at some photos, which she kept in her desk. They had told Brennan that the body was Madeline Kent's body and that's all that she had been doing since she had heard the news. He hated leaving her like that, but he still needed to find out who had called Sarah Kent. Cam and Angela had also told him about the different blood samples and since Brennan wasn't talking he needed to help them with that too.

It had been an hour since Booth had left and Brennan still hadn't moved from where she had been.

She sighed as she leaned back in the chair behind her desk. Her hand hovered over the phone, knowing that she needed to make the phone call but not knowing how to phrase the words that she needed to say. She picked up the phone and dialed a number that she had always remembered but just never used.

"Jennifer Waters?" Brennan asked when the phone was answered. "This is Temperance Brennan, Zach's mother." On the other end of the line, Jennifer greeted Brennan. "I really don't know how to tell you this but... But we found Rachel's body a few days ago."

_"Oh my gosh. What about the children? And Andrew? What happened?"_Even Brennan could tell that she was worried and panicking even though the worst had not been told.

"The children and Andy are both missing but we found Maddie this morning... I'm so sorry," she began but she didn't need to say any more. Jennifer already understood what those three words meant. Her daughter was dead.

_"What happened? I mean, how? What? Why?"_She questioned.

"I don't know for sure, we're looking into it know, I'll let you know when I know something. You've known the family longer than I have, do you know of anyone who would want to hurt them or would hold a grudge against them?" asked Brennan.

_"No, I mean who would? They were the kindest people you could ever meet! I know not many people know about what they were doing and you're probably doing your__best to keep it a secret but please, please can you keep me up to date with what's happening?"_she asked, practically begging.

"Of course, I've kept it from both the Jeffersonian and the FBI but I don't know how much longer I can, they're bound to find out at some point. I've got to go for now, but I'll let you know everything as soon as possible," she promised.

_"Meet me for coffee tomorrow afternoon, 1pm at__the__diner,"_she said. Brennan agreed before hanging up the phone. She wiped away any tears that may have been there as she waited for her colleges to walk into her office. She watched as Cam, Hodgins and Nigel-Murray walked into her office all carrying newly written reports that she needed to look over.

"Dr. Brennan, we've found out everything we can from the body at the moment and it seems that there are differences between the two. The latest victim, before death, was stabbed for a shorter amount of time, and it seems that stabbing was the only way of torture on the body. From what we can tell, the body was only stabbed for no longer than fifteen minutes before she was shot," explained Nigel-Murray, reading it straight from the report and not looking at Brennan who looked relieved.

"Dr. B why are you relieved about this?" asked a confused Hodgins.

"She didn't suffer... I mean, she wasn't in a lot of pain before she died."

"That makes sense," Hodgins agreed before looking down the report to explain what he had found. "From the particulates that I found and was able to examine I found that the latest victim was kept in the same place as Rachel was; the wooden shed. They were stabbed with the same knife and the paint in the woods was just ordinary red paint which could've been purchased in any hardware store," he explained as briefly as possible.

"Thank you. Did you need me for anything else? I think I need to get out of here for a while," she admitted.

"We'll call you if we do," Cam promised. The three of them left the office leaving Brennan to think about what she'd just been told.

* * *

Booth, Brennan, and Zach were all sat in Booth's living room watching a random cartoon on his TV. Brennan had wandered around DC for a while before heading back to the Hoover building where she had sat and watched Booth work. Of course, Booth had already known about the findings so no explanation had been needed when she had arrived. Booth knew that she needed time to think about what was going on around her; it was all too much for her. At five o'clock they had picked Zach up from Pete's and they had gone for the diner for dinner. Afterwards they had picked some things up for Zach as well as some clothes and pyjama's as Brennan would be back late and he would most probably be asleep.

Both adults weren't actually watching the programme on the screen they were only using it as an excuse to think in silence. Neither of them knew what to say to each other, so at 8pm Brennan had had enough of the awkward silence, she needed to get out of the house for a while. She needed some more time to clear her head.

"I should be getting off now, I said I'd meet Max at 8.30," she lied.

"You sure you're going to be okay? I worry about you, you know," he admitted as he walked her over to the door.

"There's no need to worry Booth I'll be perfectly safe," she told him as she put on her coat and grabbed her bag. Butterflies tickled her stomach at his words but she kept herself from blushing on the outside.

"I still worry," he said as he pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. "Be safe," he whispered, pulling back from the hug - too soon for both of them.

"I promise," she whispered in reply as she left his apartment.

**Thanks for reading, please don't forget to review. It'll probably make me review faster too :)**

**~LittleMiss (:**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bones :(**

**Kinda a long chapter, not intentionally but i just got carried away with writing and i couldn't think of a suitable place to stop it... Tbh, I don't like how it ends so please tell me what you think of it (: **

*****Chapter Nine*****

After leaving Booth's house Brennan had wandered around the streets for a while before finding a bench in the nearest park to sit on. She had sat there for a few hours just thinking about everything; the case, her son, Pete, Booth, it was all just too much. Normally she could compartmentalise a case even if she had any link to it, but this time it seemed impossible. Despite her hour-long tries, she walked to Pete's house feeling the same as she did when she had left Booth's. As she neared Pete's house she watched as he paced up and down the path leading to his house. She looked down at her watch and kicked herself mentally. She was late. He was worried. She quickened her pace so that she'd get there a little bit quicker even though it would make no difference.

"Sorry I'm late Pete, I lost track of time," Brennan said as she walked up to him, and hugged him immediately. Pete hugged back not caring anymore that she was late, he was just glad nothing had happened to her on the way over. He had talked to his father earlier in the day and they had agreed that it would be good if Brennan wasn't alone. Thankfully, she had spent the day with her partner at the FBI. That's what he thought anyway, what he hoped.

"Not to worry," he lied, as the hug broke apart and he unlocked the car. "Did you get your FBI partner to look after Zach then?" he asked, even though it was an obvious answer.

"Yeah, I just put Zach to bed before I came here," she lied. "He agreed to it as soon as I asked him," she said, unknown feelings running through her body.

"My brother Freddie's finally back in town so they've all gone to Uncle Freddie's for a movie night in with chocolate and ice cream. At least I'm not putting them to bed," he joked.

"I've not seen him since we were kids, how is he?" Brennan asked, as they simultaneously climbed in their respective sides of the car.

"He's good; he has a house in D.C. but he travels around for work so it's empty most of the year. He's still like he was when he was younger; living his life, not ready to settle down yet and he completely spoils the kids when he's back home. He overheard me talking to Max earlier and he's agreed to help while he's in town," he told her as he pulled away from the driveway and headed to their destination.

* * *

Together, Pete and Brennan walked towards an old abandoned warehouse. Black curtains covered smashed windows to prevent people from looking in, while smashed stone steps stopped them from reaching a second entrance to the building. They entered through a large metal door at the side of the building, the scraping on the ground alerting anyone inside. As they shut the door, three people approached cautiously from different directions until they recognised who was at the door.

"It's been too long Tempe," Max greeted as he pulled his daughter into a long hug. She was quickly greeted by the two other men in the room before following them back into the room they'd originally come from.

The room was empty apart from three wooden crates, two worn blue sofas, and stacks of cardboard boxes. Paint peeled from the walls and wind drafted in through the windows. Tommy and Charlie went to sit down on one of the sofas, Charlie grabbing a stack of newspaper clippings on his way. Max offered Pete and Brennan a beer as they sat down on the opposite blue sofa, which they both accepted. Max opened a beer of his own as he opted to sit on one of the crates instead.

"So I guess a few introductions are in order, this is Charlie," he said pointing to the man sat down next to Tommy. Pete had never seen him before so he didn't know what to expect but Brennan had seen him every time she had visited the Hoover Building on the FBI's 'Most Wanted' board. He looked exactly the same as the picture although now he had a scar above his right eye and he'd aged at least fifteen years since the photo was taken. "We met through a mutual _friend_ a while ago," he explained. He knew how much his daughter hated the fact he killed people so he kept the real story hidden. "We've kept in contact but this is the first time in ten years we've actually seen each other."

"It's a bit hard to meet up when you have the FBI trying to follow your every move," joked Charlie. "As soon as Max got the phone call I told him that I would help, I know you probably don't remember me but I used to spend a lot of time with your family, before you changed to the Brennan's that is."

"Thank you," Brennan said. A man she hardly knew was willing to help catch the murderer that was terrorising her friends. Of course, she tried to forget that he was a killer himself. All three of them were killers.

"We're gonna have to stay under the radar so that the FBI don't suspect anything, we don't wanna be right about to catch the killer and then have the FBI come and get us," Tommy said looking up from the articles Charlie had passed along to him.

"There's not a lot in the newspaper about what's happened; they're just saying that two people are murdered and the family is missing. No names, no cause of death, no suspects. Hopefully you have more information for us Tempe."

"I've got no officially documents or anything but I've remembered what I can."

"Which, knowing Tempe, will be everything," mocked Pete, earning himself a slap on chest from Brennan who glared at him before continuing.

"The bodies are Rachel Kent and Madeline Kent," began Brennan. "They were both found in different patches of woods on both sides of town. They were stabbed with a copper instrument, most likely a knife, and then shot." Brennan took a breath before she started to explain everything else; the shed they'd been kept in, the circle of paint, the teddies, the photo, the necklace and the torture on Rachel's body. "Maddie was stabbed fifteen minutes before she was shot, and it was the only way of torture on the body. We also searched their home where we found eight drops of blood on an oak cupboard. Then, obviously, they realised that the children don't have the same blood type as their _parents_ but I don't think that they're anywhere near figuring out the truth. They also don't know where Zach is but because his blood isn't there they don't think that he's been kidnapped as well. Except for Booth of course, Booth knows. But I don't know if he'll keep it to himself for much longer."

"Trust me, Booth will keep your secret for as long as you want him too. As much as it kills him to do it, he will," Pete admitted, getting confused looks from both Charlie and Tommy. Of course, Max knew what he meant; he had always suspected it himself.

"Who's Booth?" asked Tommy.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth..." began Pete.

"He's my partner. We work together."

"Oh and this _Booth_, he's the one who's looking after your son tonight which means he knows everything?" asked Charlie.

"Not everything," Brennan admitted quietly, just loud enough for them to hear her. She hated lying to him but she just didn't know how to tell him about everything. Telling him about Zach was hard enough and even though the rest would be easy to tell him, she just didn't know if she was brave enough. He would know everything about her then, she felt vulnerably enough already.

"Right, so who does know everything?"

"Rachel and Andy, obviously, us and then of course the children's parents; they're the only ones who know."

"It could be one of the parents, they don't like it any more so now they want revenge?" suggested Max.

"It's a reversible decision; it can be changed any day. It doesn't have to be like that forever," explained Brennan. "The parents have work, or they can't afford it, or they just don't think they're ready, or... It could be for any number of reasons but Rachel and Andy they don't keep the kids from them once it's been done."

"Right, is that everything? I've written everything down for now. We'll keep everything here at the warehouse so that we can all get to it whenever we need it. And, if it's ever needed, the whole thing can go up in flames in a matter of minutes," Tommy revealed, putting the notes he had just written and the newspaper clippings into a folder, then putting them into one of the cardboard boxes that was near his feet. "All these boxes are filled with paper so that, if needed, a fire could spread."

"But hopefully we'll catch whoever's doing this before it gets to that. First though, we need to think of what we need to do next."

* * *

Booth had put Zach to bed several hours ago so now all was silent in his apartment, apart from the small snores coming from Parker's bedroom. He had tried to watch some TV but nothing that interested him was on, instead he was left to think about what was actually happening; Brennan had gone to get coffee with her father with no idea of what time she was coming back. He was looking after her son because it seemed as though her father didn't know that his daughter had a child of her own. Normally he would be worried about her but that had been pushed to the back of his mind at the moment. Right now, all he could think about was that his partner, the woman that he had known for five, nearly six, years had a son that no one knew about. Not even Angela.

He wasn't mad at her though, he was mad at himself for not realising it sooner. All the times she had said she didn't want kids, that she wouldn't be a good enough mother, she denied it all even though they had all seen how she had acted with Andy and with his own son. All along, she had her own son and still, she didn't believe that she would be a good enough mother.

Before Booth could think about it anymore he heard the bedroom door creek open and small footsteps slowly making their way towards him. He turned around in his chair and saw Zach standing in the hallway, tears streaming down his face.

"You had a bad dream?" he asked gently as he signalled for him to come over and sit on his knee. Zach curled up and nodded into Booth's chest. "You want to tell me about it?" he asked. Zach shook his head and sat upright, rubbing away any tears that had been left.

"I'm all right, it was something silly that could never happen," he said. "Whenever I slept at mummy's house and I had a bad dream she always used to tell me to explain them and then she'd tell me why they could never happen."

"You're mummy's good like that," said Booth with a smile on his face, imagining Brennan comfort her son from a bad dream.

"Like one time, I had a dream that somebody would take me away and not let me see anyone I loved ever again. Mummy told me that nobody would ever take me away because she wouldn't let it happen; she said she'd keep me safe forever. That's why I live with Auntie Rachel and Uncle Andy because mummy's making everything safe and even if someone did take me she said that you would find me. She said you and my mummy are the best at finding people."

"Yep, your mummy and I always find out the truth. We always find out what's happened to somebody."

"She said that you found her once. She told me that somebody took her and someone she works with but then you came and found her after looking for her _all_ day," he exclaimed. "Thank you for finding my mummy," he said with a big smile on his face but as soon as it appeared, the smile disappeared again. "Mummy still has nightmares though. Sometimes, when I'm staying at her house she'll start shouting things and then she'll wake up crying."

"Your mummy has nightmares?" asked a shocked Booth. Zach nodded his head. "About the time when I saved her?"

"She said that she has nightmares about the bad things that have happened to her. Is something bad happening now?"

"Everything's fine," Booth lied. "Your mum has gone for coffee with a friend, I'm looking after you and tomorrow you're going to school again. Then your mum and I are going to go to work. Everything's fine. And maybe at the weekend we can all go and I can bring Parker too," Booth suggested, changing the subject.

"Who's Parker?"

"He's my son, but he lives with his mum. I get to see him on weekends, as long as I'm not working." Zach snuggled back into Booth's chest as he continued to tell him about Parker.

* * *

"Think about it though, if the murderer has to know the family to be doing what he is. This isn't something random, he knows too much about them. He's got to know about Zach too," Tommy explained. "I've seen people like this before, when they take revenge on the entire family, they plan first. They get to know the family. He knows about Zach. This isn't just a coincidence that you're on the case Temperance."

"Tommy's right, it's not safe for you and Zach to be out there, unprotected," Charlie added.

"I'm not unprotected though, I have Booth," Brennan began. However, Pete cut her off, he had known her for years; he knew that she was a liaison to the FBI. He had seen all the cuts and bruises she had got from being in the field. He had known about all the different times she had had to go to the hospital because of the job.

"What about all the times you've been injured, there have been times when he hasn't been able to protect you. We can't take that risk!"

"Those were small, compared to what could've happened if Booth wasn't there; if someone else was there instead of him. He has done everything to protect me from anything that could happen."

"But there have been times when he wasn't there. The Gravedigger. I read about her in the paper, she kidnapped you didn't she? Where was Booth to protect you then?"

"Yes she did, but Booth was also there to save me. Had it not been for him, I would still be buried there in the car."

"Just trust us Temperance; we can protect you here too. We can help you at the same time. Just pick up Zach and act like nothing has changed. He won't think anything of it. Then pick some things up, essentials," explained Max as though it was the easiest thing in the world. Part of her agreed with them. It would be easier and safer for both her and Zach to go under the radar with them just until everything was safe again; when the murderer had been caught. But, another part of her was screaming at her to refuse. She couldn't leave Booth, no matter what they said he could protect her.

"I can't do it," she whispered.

* * *

Booth sat on the sofa thinking about things when a knock at the door broke through the silence. He checked the clock on the shelf. 1 am. Brennan was going home after her coffee with Max and there was no one else he could think of who would be at his door at this time. Booth opened it cautiously and was surprised when he saw Brennan there.

Tears poured down her tear-stained cheeks despite her desperate tries to wipe them away. He opened the door fully but she still didn't move, instead she looked down at the floor. Booth took her in his arms and guided her into the apartment. Once inside with the door shut, he pulled her onto the couch still in his arms.

"Bones, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked, kissing the top of her head as she hugged his chest.

"I need to leave," she murmured just loud enough for him to hear. At the sound of her words he sat up straighter in the chair but still didn't let go.

"What?" he asked just to make sure that he'd heard right. He lifted her head so he could see her eyes.

"I said, I need to leave for a while," she repeated.

"Why? Who with? Why do you need to leave Bones?" Booth asked frantically.

"I just do," she answered avoiding his other questions.

"You've been drinking," Booth stated.

"One drink!" she exclaimed. "I had one drink, I'm fine. I... I just... I just need to leave. I can't do this. Please Booth," she sobbed, trying to break away from Booth's strong grip.

"You're not going anywhere like this Bones," he said as firmly as he could. He couldn't watch her walk away, not with no explanation or no idea where she was going. "Don't leave me Bones," he pleaded. She looked into his eyes, they were confused and upset. She hated to leave him like this, she couldn't but she needed to. Hopefully, everything would be over soon and things could go back to normal. But as time passed she seemed to think 'normal' was something she was never going to get back to.

"Booth, please don't make this any harder than it has to be," she begged. "Trust me when I say I don't want to leave you, but I have to. It's the only way to make everything go away. I'll be safe I promise, I'll be protected," she promised.

"But _I_can protect you here Bones. Both of you, right here. I can protect you. Please Temperance, I can't loose you."

"Please Booth," she whispered into his chest. She was so close she could feel his heartbeat beating just beneath where her ear was.

"Just sleep on it, please, it doesn't have to be like this," he pleaded lifting her head up so that he could look into her eyes. An overwhelming rush of passion took over him and he suddenly felt himself pressing his lips to hers. Surprisingly she didn't pull away; instead she pushed back with just as much need and devotion. It was over too soon for both of them, but it told them everything.

They belonged together. They wanted each other. They _needed_ each other. She couldn't leave him, not tonight. Not after everything that had happened between them. So, instead she followed him as she led him into his bedroom. Tonight, she would get a good night sleep. She would be safe. She would be protected. Everything else could wait. Tonight, she would fall to sleep in the arms of the man she loved.

**Thanks for reading (: Don't forget to review too!**

**~LittleMiss (:**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed or alerted my story (: Means a lot! **

**Not updated in a while but I had no inspiration to write and then my beta has been on holiday so it's taken a bit of time :P. Not sure when I'll update next (hopefully soon) as schools starting next week and I have to find time to think of what to write. I have an idea on where I'm going with this story but getting there is a problem! I do, however, have 997 words of the next chapter already written =D**

*****Chapter Ten*****

Brennan was sleeping peacefully in Booth's arms when the sound of her phone pulled her from her calming slumber. She gently untangled herself from him trying her best not to wake him. She left the room before pulling her phone from her pocket and answering it.

"Brennan," she whispered.

"_Temperance, where are you? I thought you were going to pick Zach up and then come back! We've been worried sick, we thought something had happened to you,"_ said a frantic Max on the other end of the line.

"I'm fine, I was with Booth," she explained, hoping that it would be enough. But, of course, it wasn't.

"_Tempe, darling, we talked about this. You_will_be safer with us, I promise,"_ he said. Brennan sighed; there was no way that he would win this argument. She needed their help. For the first time in her life, she prayed. She prayed that everything would go back to normal, the murderer would be caught and she could go back to laying in Booth's arms. The only good thing about the whole situation was the fact that her son was with her.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll be back in an hour," she whispered, not giving him enough time to respond, instead ending the call and putting the phone back in her pocket.

She moved quickly through the apartment, gathering her coat, her bag, and everything that Zach had brought with him. She waited slowly back into Booth's bedroom. She watched him sleep, his chest rising and falling, unaware of what was happening around him. Brennan quietly leant over him and whispered 'I love you' in his ear, tears began to roll down her face. She quickly walked back out and into the room where Zach was asleep.

She carefully lifted him up; she decided it would be best if she tried to keep him asleep, which meant not changing him out of his pyjamas too. Brennan carried Zach out of the apartment, grabbing her things as well as Booth's car keys. Her car was still at the Jeffersonian parking lot so Booth's car would have to do, she'd make sure that he'd have the car back in the morning. At least he wouldn't be able to drive after her if he awoke.

Thankfully, they had kept Parker's car seat in the car for Zach to use while he was with them. He was still asleep as she climbed into the front driver's seat and started the engine. She always complained that he wouldn't let her drive, but right now she wished that he was the one driving. Driving the three of them off to safety.

* * *

She pulled up twenty minutes later outside her apartment building. She carried Zach out of the car and up to her front door; she couldn't risk leaving him out of her sight. She unlocked the door with her free hand and went to lay Zach down on the sofa, closing the door behind them.

She rushed around the apartment collecting anything and everything that they might need; clothes, toiletries, money and a few of Zach's toys. As she walked by, she picked up and put both Jasper the pig and Brainy Smurf into her bag. She couldn't bring herself to leave them behind, however irrational that was. She needed to keep a part of Booth with her and this was the best she could think of.

She knew she needed to get back to the warehouse before they came out to find her – a risk for them all. No matter how much she wished or hoped there was no going back now.

* * *

Brennan drove up to the warehouse just under an hour after leaving Booth's house. She picked Zach up, who was still asleep, and lifted him out of the car. She decided to leave the things in the car, she could get them later when she had gotten Zach settled again. She knocked on the metal door, unable to open it on her own. Max greeted her on the other side of the door with a warm smile on his face.

"Welcome back Tempe, you're doing the right thing," he said as she walked through the door. Brennan didn't respond, instead she walked through another door that led to the room that they were in earlier. However, now there were mattresses, quilts, and pillows – make-shift beds made up on the floor.

"We may be here for a while so we might as well be comfy," said Charlie as he noticed Brennan looking at them. "An old store manager owed me a favour so we borrowed a few things," he admitted.

"You stole?" questioned Brennan. "You know what? I don't care anymore," she admitted, laying Zach down on one of the mattresses. She tucked the quilt in around him before standing up to talk to the others.

"I had to bring Booth's SUV; it was the only way of getting here without calling a cab. He was asleep when I left. I packed everything I should need and it's in the back of the car," she explained, yawning into the palm of her hand. She sat down on the sofa, closest to where her son slept.

"We'll bring everything in for you, you get some rest. Pete'll be back in the morning so that we can plan what we're going to do," said Max, making his way to the door so that he could fetch her things in as soon as possible.

"You did the right thing Tempe; we'll sort the car out. Just leave it to us," said Tommy.

"Don't burn it, just leave it somewhere. My prints will already be there, wear gloves or something. Just don't destroy it," sighed Brennan, trying to relax into the sofa. Tommy and Charlie nodded as they left the room leaving her to listen to her son's soft gentle snores.

* * *

Booth climbed out of the cab early the next morning. He had found his car missing when he awoke. He had hoped that Brennan had taken it, that way at east they were safe. Any other theory had him worried sick and he couldn't stand to think like that. When he had turned his cars GPS system on, he was thankful when Charlie told him that it was in the Jeffersonian parking lot.

He walked into the lab, expecting to see his Bones on the platform, hunched over one of the two bodies they had currently. When he saw Cam's serious face instead he was filled with worry once again.

"Where's Bones?" he asked, already knowing the answer to his question but hoping that Cam would tell him that she was just around the corner. Waiting for him.

"Since both of your cars were here when I got to the lab this morning, I was hoping that she was with you. But, obviously, she is not, meaning we don't know where she is," admitted Cam.

"Thanks Cam. She's probably out with Z... her father again," he suggested, narrowly missing the subject of Brennan's son. "You found anything recently," he asked as he followed her into Angela's office, where Angela and Hodgins were stood talking.

"Actually, I've been looking at the photo frame and I was able to work out what was in it; what the photo was I mean," began Angela, bringing up a faded picture onto the screen. Booth watched as more could and detail was added to the picture. In the photo there was eleven people laughing and smiling. Booth could identify all of the Kent family and Brennan, however there was a third woman in the picture that none of them recognised. Obviously, Brennan knew who the woman was but she wasn't here so they'd have to out the hard way. They would have to run her face through the FBI's database and hopefully they would get a hit.

"They all look so happy," said Angela sadly, as she began the search. Hopefully, if they found her she could give them some answers. "Bren looks so happy," she added. Booth murmured in agreement but all he could focus on was the fact that Brennan was in the photo hugging her son and no one noticed the similarities between them. Normally they would have noticed it right away but right now they were too focused on other things. Hopefully, they would figure it out soon, he didn't know how long he could keep it bottled up. Especially with Brennan not around. "We should know soon if we get a match. Also Hodgins and I were looking at the necklace."

"It was a simple silver chain that can still be purchased in most jewellers. Millions of them have been sold since it was first released. It was worn, which suggests that it was _precious_ to the family," explained Hodgins, taking over where Angela left off, as an image of the necklace rotated on the screen. "Obviously the murderer knew that it meant something to the family. That's probably why he took it."

"We're looking at the teddy now, we'll let you know if we find something," finished Angela.

"Thanks. I need to get back to the FBI but ring me if you need anything," he said as he began to walk towards the door. "And if you hear from Bones, call me," he asked as he left the room.

* * *

"Credit card bills prove it Booth," announced Charlie as he walked into Booth's office with a piece of paper in his hand. "At the time of the call the family were at a restaurant – it wasn't Andrew Kent who called his sister," explained Charlie putting the papers on his desk. Booth had discovered that the phone call had originated from the house but at the time no one was supposed to be in the house.

"So someone broke into the house so that they could ring Sarah Kent so that she would think that it was her brother," Booth clarified.

"There's only so far we can go with this Booth unless we can find a recording of that one call," Charlie stated.

"I know," Booth sighed. It was hopeless, they were wasting time on something that now was unlikely to fiver them anything else. "How are the DNA searches going?" he asked, hoping for some better news. They had been running the children's' blood samples to try to get a match somewhere.

"We've ran all of the blood samples and we're running names and faces through every database we can look at. Nothing has been found yet but it's still early days. We're trying to find everything out but whatever is being hidden is being hidden well," explained Charlie looking through the little notes he had.

"Thanks Charlie."

"No problem Booth, it's what we do." Booth stood up and walked to the elevators with Charlie. He needed to get back to the lab to see if they had found anything useful. Unlike him.

* * *

"You don't _understand_, I need to see Dr. Temperance Brennan. This can't wait, she promised to see me and she never did, I _need_to see her," the woman screamed. Booth walked into the lab to find a blond woman being restrained by two of the Jeffersonian guards. Cam was trying to calm her down, but nothing was working.

"Whoa, what's happening here?" he asked, rushing to Cam's side.

"I need to see Dr. Brennan," she repeated, calming down a little in Booth's presence. "You're Booth," she stated.

"Special Agent Booth and you are?" he asked, signalling to the guards to let the woman go now that she had calmed down.

"Jennifer Waters, I'm a friend of Dr. Brennan's," she told him. "I was supposed to meet her for coffee, she _promised_ me, but she never showed. That's not like her, she would've called," she answered calmly, even though inside she was screaming. Temperance was gone, her daughter was dead, the Kent's were missing and she was the only one, in the room, who knew the truth.

"And how do you know Dr. Brennan?"

"Through a friend... Through Andy and Rachel."

"You're the woman in the photo," Cam stated, suddenly realising where she recognised the woman from.

"Would you answer a few questions for me?" he asked. When she nodded he led her away from the entrance and towards Brennan's office.

Once inside the office he led her to the sofa and told her to sit down, while he sat in the chair opposite.

"What were you meeting Dr. Brennan for?" he asked.

"Coffee," she answered simply.

"Miss Waters, what were you meeting to talk about?" She stayed silent, choosing to look at her hands instead. "Why were you meeting up?" he asked again, and once again she stayed silent. "You said that you met Dr. Brennan though Mr and Mrs Kent, how do you know them?" She still kept silent, now picking at her nails. "Okay, you're obviously not going to talk, so I will; I know about Zach," he admitted. For the first time since they had entered the office she looked him in the eye, shock evident in her face.

"You know?" she whispered.

"I know that Zach Kent is Dr. Brennan's five year old son. I also know that Temperance agreed that Zach should live with Rachel and Andrew Kent," he said, telling her everything that he knew.

"Do you know everything?" she murmured, obviously she was nervous about what was happening and what secrets were being revealed. "Do you know the truth?" she asked, a little louder this time.

"The truth about what?" And with that she stayed silent. He had said the wrong thing and now he wasn't going to get her to say anything. "Miss Waters, I could have you arrested for withholding evidence from a federal case," he said, trying to gently scare her into telling him what she knew.

"Go ahead Agent Booth; I have nothing left to live for."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think (: **

**~LittleMiss (: **


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for not updating sooner, I started Sixth Form last Tuesday, it was my brothers birthday on Friday and my Grans on Saturday so last week was pretty hectic! I don't have a set date for when I'll next update but I'm writing parts of the chapter when I get a bit of spare time so hopefully I can get it done soon (: Also, I should be getting my own laptop back finally! I'm going to buy a new cable for my old one at the end of the month so YAY! Thankfully, my mum leant me hers while I didn't have one but it's not the same, I prefer my old one :(. **

**Thanks to everyone who read my last chapter, much appreciated =D**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bones :( **

*****Chapter Eleven*****

Brennan awoke to silence in the middle of the afternoon, they had slept throughout the morning so that they could catch up on the rest they wouldn't get in the upcoming days. Charlie, Tommy and Zach were still asleep and Max was nowhere to be found. She had heard him get up earlier in the morning but she had been too tired to wake up properly and ask him what he was doing before he left. Carefully, she got out of bed so that none of the others awoke – they needed their rest.

During the day, Max had managed to set up a TV, with a few channels, in the corner of the already crowded room. How or where he had gotten it from was a mystery to her but she didn't feel like looking into it. There was a high probability that she wouldn't like the answers she would receive. Quietly, she turned on the TV, keeping the volume down low. She skipped through the few channels that they had until she came across a news station. Nothing caught her attention until fifteen minutes into the programme; a woman was being escorted out of the Jeffersonian's main entrance by two FBI agents. The woman was silent as reporters yelled a million questions at her.

"_News_ _just in, a woman__has__been taken into the FBI's custody, suspected of knowing crucial information to an ongoing federal investigation. The link between the woman and the case is still unknown however insiders say she caused a scene in the Jeffersonian lab, demanding to see a Dr. Temperance Brennan..."_one reporter for the station began as a voice over to live footage. Panic over took Brennan as she watched the agents load Jennifer Waters into the back of a marked car.

She had been to the Jeffersonian and then taken to the Hoover building, which meant that they had found something out. They found out that she knew. She knew the big secret that they desperately needed to find out. They would try every method to get her to talk but that was something she wouldn't do. Even though she was unable to look after Maddie herself, her daughter was still the most important thing in the world to her. Now that she was dead, she had nothing else to worry about.

Still in a state of shock, she woke up both Tommy and Charlie to tell them the news. As they slowly awoke, she told them to stay quiet so that Zach wouldn't awake.

"Jennifer Waters was arrested," she told them, and they both knew who she was without any further explanation. "Both the Jeffersonian and the FBI know that she knows something but she's not saying anything. They're now transferring her to the Hoover Building," she explained.

"She will be fine," Charlie said, rubbing his eyes as he wasn't quite awake yet.

"From what I've heard she is a strong woman, as Charlie said she will be fine. She will keep the truth safe," Tommy added.

"I know," Brennan admitted, sighing into her hands. "What happened to Booth's car?" she asked, looking back up at them again.

"We left the car _unharmed_ in the Jeffersonian parking lot in the middle of the night. You were still asleep when we got back," Tommy told her. "We decided to let you sleep."

"Thank you. Where is my father?" asked Brennan, looking at her son's sleeping form.

"He said, last night, that he was going to pick up some food and stuff this morning, but he was gone before we awoke," Charlie said.

"He'll be back soon," Tommy added. "Pete's also stopping by later, once the kids have gone to school, so that we can discuss what we need to do."

* * *

Booth walked through the parking lot to where Cam, Hodgins and some other squints were looking at his car. They had been looking all morning but so far nothing had been found. There were no prints – not even his own – and no fibres had been left behind. Currently, Hodgins was taking particulates from the wheels in the means to estimate where the car had been.

"Found anything?" Booth asked hopefully, already knowing the answer.

"Nothing," Cam answered, just as he had predicted. Booth sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. "Whoever dropped your car off was a pro Booth; they knew what they were doing."

"Well that's an understatement," Hodgins announced appearing from the other side of the car. "It seems he or she cleaned the inside and outside of the car and then used every precaution necessary to prevent evidence from being left behind. Hopefully I'll get something from the wheels, but these guys were pro's!"

"It's what we expected though Booth," Cam said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Did you get anything from Miss Waters? She definitely knew something."

"She's been taken to the Hoover Building by FBI Agents Fletcher and Fisher, they've been helping us at the FBI; backgrounds, medical records etcetera. They've just took her but I doubt she'll talk, she's just like Bones – stubborn. No wonder they're friends."

* * *

"I found something," Angela announce excitedly as Booth walked into her office twenty minutes later. Booth walked in a little bit faster as he heard the news. "I've been looking at the parking lot security tapes like you asked," she began.

"You know who did it?" he asked, his hope growing once again.

"No _but_ whoever did it didn't even try effecting or damaging the cameras. There were two men involved both wearing black ski-masks so I've not been able to get an ID. One man drove your car," she began but was cut off by Booth once again.

"Did you run the plates? Do you know who owns the car?" he asked.

"Booth! I'm getting to that part, give me a minute. As I was saying, the first man got into the silver car but then he got out again and showed this," she said, freezing the video.

Booth looked at the screen where the man stood, holding a white piece of what looked like cardboard. On it read, '**DON'T BLAME HER**' in bold black lettering.

"You think it's about Bren?"

"Probably," admitted Booth, sighing once again. They had no idea where Brennan was, who she was with or why she had run. And from what they had found out she was with or in contact with pro's. If they were on her side, she was safe. If not, Booth didn't dare think about it. "What about the other car?" he asked again.

"I ran the car and it was reported stolen late last night by a Karl Collinson. And yes, before you ask, I've already ran his name. He's just a 23 year old in med school; no criminal record just a lot of debts."

"Address?"

"Right here for you to check out _later_," she said, handing him a scrap of paper. She laughed at his confused face. "Hodgins and Cam are on their way back," she said, to resolve his confusion.

Just as Angela had said, Hodgins entered the room with Cam and an evidence bag two minutes later.

"We found nothing," Hodgins sighed. "I've got the particulates from the wheels but I doubt they'll give us anything. I'll start the tests now though, just so that we have it in writing that these guys have beaten us," he sulked as he left the room, handing the only evidence bag to Cam.

"All we found was one of Parker's toys," explained Cam. "It was on the floor under the driver's seat."

"What?" asked Booth, confused once again, "I cleaned out the car the day before we took the case; there should be nothing in there, not even my duffel bag! What did you find?" he asked.

"This," Cam said as she passed him the evidence bag so that he could see for himself.

"Brainy Smurf," Booth whispered. "It was... I mean, I gave it to Bones a while ago... It's a long story," he said once he saw their confused faces. "I don't know how it got in the car though. Last time I saw it, it was sat on one of Bones' many selves," he admitted.

"As soon as I've ran it for prints you can have it back," Cam promised as she saw his unwillingness to give it back.

"Thanks," he murmured, finally handing it back over to her.

* * *

Max had returned later in the day with a fridge and an assortment of food. Pete had arrived a few hours later; he had had to stay at home during the day with Dylan as he was off ill from school. Jess and James had agreed to look after him while he came to meet them, both vaguely aware of what was happening.

It had been a long day for them all but it was far from over yet, they still had to plan what they were going to do, how they were going to keep the FBI from finding them and also finding the person behind it all. They had stayed in all day, trying to keep an undercover profile; Brennan had spent time reading with Zach, although he couldn't go to his regular school she insisted that he learnt something while Tommy and Charlie had used their contacts to try and find some more information. Unfortunately, they had found nothing – to them they had wasted a day and now they were both in a bad mood despite Brennan constantly telling them that they had tried.

"Well our contacts have both come up dry," complained Tommy, speaking on behalf of Charlie as well. That was until he walked back into the room with a smile on his face that told everyone that he had something. "Well mine have," he said once he saw Charlie. "What ya got?"

"I have a... _friend_who just so happens to work for the FBI, not that big of a deal but he's the one who gets all the phone calls – he knows when we have a body. This _friend_ just so happens to owe me a favour and has promised to let us know when the next body appears," he said, looking happier than he had all day.

"Won't the FBI get curious though? If they found out he withheld the evidence, he could tell them?"

"He won't, trust me," he said, an evil smirk appearing on his face – Brennan didn't want to know what he help again their FBI _informant_ or what he would do if he talked but for now she didn't care. She wanted it to be over as soon as possible and if this helped, then she would gladly take the offer. "And he'll come up with something good as a cover story he's used to this sort of thing."

"Fine," Brennan muttered under her breath as she left her son reading a book with her iPod in so that he wouldn't or couldn't listen to any of the conversation.

"Well then, talking about informants, I just so happen to have one stationed in the Jeffersonian," Tommy bragged trying to out-do Charlie.

"Really?" asked Charlie suspiciously.

"My other son, Freddie, just so happened to get a job at the Jeffersonian as one of the security guards and he just so happens to _guard_ the entrance to the Jeffersonian lab. Of course, he had to use a fake name and background but he's there. And he's able to _obtain_ any evidence or photo's that we just so happen to need," he said, mocking Charlie every time he used the phrase 'just so happened'. Charlie glared at him.

"Now now ladies," Max joked, as he sat and counted the amount of money they had left. After buying the food this morning they were running low and in a few days they would most likely need to buy more. "Looks like we're gonna be on scraps for a while," he said as he laid out the rest of the money for them to see. From what she could count, it looked like there was only $150 left on the table.

"I have money," Brennan admitted. "I'm going to be here too, I think it's fair that I should pay for the food and the other necessities," she explained.

"And the minute you decide to take some money out of the bank, or you pay for food by credit card the FBI will be there in minutes. It's too dangerous, they'll know where you are," Max said.

"No, think about," defended Tommy. "It's actually brilliant, one of us could drive out somewhere – far away – and then we could take some of the money from an ATM. That way they know that she's still alive and that she's just disappearing for a while. Booth won't be able to get there in time before we're gone."

"Fine," agreed Max, still not happy with the idea. "But you're not going anywhere," he said, pointing to Brennan.

"I'll go," offered Tommy. "I need to get out of here for a while, it should be fun." They agreed with him and decided that he should set off early in the morning, when less people would be about on the roads but by the time he got there, there would be enough people about to blend into the crowd.

Tomorrow, they also decided that they should go through all of the Kent's _records_ and photo albums to see if anyone stood out from the rest as it was obviously someone that they knew. Brennan would also try to get in contact to the rest of the other parents – they had a right to know what was happening with their children.

* * *

"Booth!" Cam yelled stopping him in the entrance just as he was leaving for the night. They had finally convinced him that he should go home to get some rest, he had agreed with them even though he was still reluctant. He wanted to be here if they heard anything about Brennan, he wanted to be the first to know. He needed to know. They were right, as always, he was not helping anything in the state he was in at the moment.

Booth turned around to face the woman who was running towards him.

"Ran all the tests and there were no prints so here you go," she said handing him back Brainy Smurf – this time it was in no evidence bag so he could hold it properly.

"Thanks Cam," he said as he put it in his jacket pocket so that it'd be always close to him wherever he went. Brennan would be close to him.

"No problem Booth, go home and get some rest. We'll still be here in the morning." He nodded and she watched as he walked out of the Jeffersonian.

* * *

Booth walked up to the familiar house, he had been here twice, but both times now felt like a lifetime ago. As he walked up the path he started to wonder why he was actually here, what was he going to get from coming here? Was he really going to find the answers he was looking for? Probably not, but it wasn't going to stop him from knocking on the white PVC door.

He was about to walk away two minute later when he heard someone run down the stairs and the lock click open in the door. The door swung open and he was surprised to see James standing in the doorway, still in his school uniform.

"What?" he asked impatiently.

"Your dad in?" he asked.

"Nope," he answered simply. James had nothing against Booth himself; in fact, he thought that he was a nice guy – especially towards his aunt Tempe and Zach. It was the fact that he worked for the FBI; an organisation that he could never forgive.

"Would you... Actually, do you know where Temperance is?"

"Nope," he answered simply once again. It wasn't exactly a lie, he didn't know where she was but he did know that his father knew where she was. However, he had sworn to his father to keep that a secret and he never went again his father, not anymore. He heard his sister walk half way down the stairs before stopping and sitting where she was so that she could listen into the conversation.

"Do you think that you could..." he began but he was cut off by footsteps coming up from behind him.

"Booth?" the man questioned. "What are you doing here?" Booth turned as Pete walked up the steps and stood in the doorway next to his son. Now it was two against one, he was never going to get any answers.

"I just came to see if you knew where Temperance was, that's all," he sighed. Pete could see the hurt in the man's eyes but he knew, right now, that the best thing would be for them to stay apart – for both of their safeties.

"Sorry man, I've not heard from her since you both came over for dinner. I thought she was with you," he lied.

"I wish," Booth murmured, just loud enough for them all to hear. "So you've heard nothing for her?" he asked to clarify once again even though he already knew his answer before he actually heard it.

"Sorry," he said. This time Booth could tell he was hiding something, but he was too exhausted to figure out what right now. For the first time in his lifetime, he gave up.

"If she calls you or if you really do know where she is, please tell her that I need to talk to her," he begged. He couldn't bare to listen to the answer he would receive so instead he walked away from the house, tears brimming in his eyes ready to fall down his face the moment he was alone.

James walked back inside the house and walked up the stairs, past his sister who was close to tears herself, to check up on Dylan.

"You can't just let him leave; you have to tell him the truth!" Jess yelled as she stormed down the stairs to where her father was shutting the door. "It's not fair to him, you know that Auntie Tempe wants to be with him, why won't you let them!"

"It's not a simple..." Pete began to explain but he was cut off at his daughter's sobs.

"Please daddy, it's not fair!"

"Life's not fair Jessica," he said using her full name, pulling her into a hug to try to calm her sobs.

"What if... What if someone tried to keep you and mum apart? What would you do?" she asked, still trying to convince him.

"It's different. Jessica, there is nothing you can do about it, it's safer this way. Promise me that you won't tell him anything," he asked seriously, looking her straight in the eye.

"I promise," she whispered.

**

* * *

*Two Days Later***

Booth had still not heard anything from Brennan and he was beginning to worry. He had issued a missing person's report the previous morning but there had been no hits yet. He had hit the refresh button every two minutes and even though nothing had changed since he issued it he wouldn't stop as he had nothing better to do other than worry and panic; everyone else was busy doing the jobs that he could've done.

Cam and Angela watched him carefully as they continued to look for any clues to where Brennan was. Over the past few days Booth hadn't slept properly (even though he pretended to sleep on the couch they knew he was just laying there), he wasn't eating properly and he refused to go home. Just in case they found something and he wasn't there. After hearing him refresh the page for the hundredth time Angela snapped, "Booth! I swear to God if you click that thing one more time..." she yelled, not actually knowing what she'd do but it was annoying her. She took a deep calming breath and continued, "Sorry, it'll tell you if there's been a hit, you don't need to keep refreshing every five minutes," she explained more calmly.

"You look exhausted Booth," noted Cam, hoping that if they both her and Angela told him together that he would finally listen to what they'd been saying. "Go home, have a shower, get some sleep," she said, demanding rather than asking him.

"I want... I need to be _here_, just in case anything happens," he murmured, not in the mood to argue with them once again. "I can't leave."

"You need sleep Booth," Cam repeated once again.

"Booth, go and sleep. On Bren's couch if you have to, just get some sleep. You'll be no use to her if you're tired," Angela said softly, weakly smiling at him to show that he had support behind him. "I promise that we'll wake you up the minute we find something."

"Fine," he mumbled, standing from the chair he'd been sat in all day and making his way over to Brennan's office.

"And get some real sleep Booth, don't just lay down and close your eyes," Cam shouted after him, subtly letting him know that they knew he wasn't actually sleeping. Booth murmured something under his breath as he walked away which neither of them could hear but they suspected that it was something along the lines of 'whatever'.

* * *

Once he had taken the children to school – Dylan had just had a 24 hour bug that was gone by the next morning – and checking up on Freddie, Pete rejoined the others back at the warehouse to tell them what he had heard. Charlie had found something out while looking through the old records and Brennan had found all of the contact details for the parents.

"Freddie stopped by on his way to work this morning just before I dropped the kids off a school," Pete began to explain. "At the Jeffersonian they're about as stuck as we are, they've found nothing but they've not given up yet. Apparently, they're now focused on finding you at the moment," he said, talking directly to Brennan who looked down at her feet to prevent them from seeing the tears brim in her eyes. "They've issued a missing person's report and then they're looking at bank records, places you frequently visit, things like that – they're not getting very far."

"They'll hopefully be going away all together as soon as Tommy takes out the money. He rang a few minutes ago to say he was almost there, he just needs to find a place to park where there aren't any cameras," revealed Max. Brennan nodded her head and smiled weakly, too afraid to trust her voice just yet especially with the news that they were looking for her. She had known it all along but now it showed just how much they loved her, like they said they did.

"Freddie says he'll either call us or stop by as soon as he's got some more information."

"I don't know how relevant this is right now or if you knew it or not but while I was looking through the old records I found that Rachel and Andy had custody of five children who aren't with them now," began Charlie as he looked through the notes he had made earlier.

"I knew about two kids they had but not five, it must have been before I met them," admitted Brennan.

"Probably was," he murmured checking over his notes to see the dates. "Yeah, I haven't been able to get surnames as on the records they're just listed as a Kent. There was a Kyle who came to them for a year but then he went back to his parents, a Marie also stayed with them for a while – three years I think – before going back to live with her father once he came out of the army. Six months before Zach was born they had custody of a Charlotte Rose but she died three months later from complications from birth."

"They never told me about any of these past children, I just knew about Sam and Emma."

"Right, okay, Sam was with them for four months while his mother went into hospital but she took him back as soon as she came out. She was a friend of the family I think." Brennan nodded. "And then Emma was with them since birth but still had contact with her biological parents. They were taking her out for the day when they were involved in a car accident last year – Emma and her father died at the scene of the accident and her mother died three days later in hospital." Brennan nodded once again.

"Yeah, Rachel and Andy paid for all the funeral arrangements for them, they were close to the family. I don't really see any of them having motive for murder – they all got their children back and Charlotte died from complications, it was nobodies fault," Brennan pointed out.

"Which means we have nothing," Charlie sighed, looking at all his hard work. It had taken him days to look through all the official records and now it turned out they had nothing. At least now, they could cross some more names off from the virtual suspect list.

"Did you get all of the parents' numbers you were looking for?" Pete asked a few minutes later as the information he had just been told sunk in.

"I've got the contact numbers that were on the papers but some of them aren't working or are disconnected so I'm still in the process of contacting them all. Georgia's, Maddie's and Ellie's parents all know, I've contacted them – Ellie's mother basically said that she doesn't care, she gave up custody and that's it," she explained, tears in her eyes as she retold them what she had said on the phone. Brennan didn't know how a mother couldn't care that her own child was kidnapped and would most likely be killed or tortured at least. "I'm trying to contact the others at the moment but without access to the databases that I normally use, it's going to be hard," she explained.

"That's fine, you've done the best you can and knowing you you're going to keep trying," Pete laughed, trying to lighten the mood of the room. Brennan nodded and smiled, wiping away some stray tears. They sat in a comfortable silence and watched as Charlie answered his phone.

A few moments later, he walked back to where they were sitting, he closed his eyes then looked at them; his face shattering the good mood they were in.

"Another body has been found."

**Thanks for reading, don't forget to review =D Everyone who reviews gets a virtual cookie ;) **

**~Littlemiss (: **


	12. Chapter 12

**(a/n) Thanks to everyone who read my last chapter :) **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bones :/ **

*****Chapter Twelve*****

_Georgia now knew that asking 'the man' about kids was a__bad__idea. She woke up three hours later in the worst pain she had ever imagined, but she knew that the wors__t__was__yet__to come. Her sister and her mother had suffered worse than__she had,__so she had kept her mouth shut when she was asked about the pain._

*Three Hours Earlier*

"Please," she begged 'the man' for the second time. "They're young, they're innocent, they've done nothing wrong. Just, please, give them some extra food and water or some more blankets. They're shivering," she pleaded, but nothing she said affected 'the man' in any way. She didn't care about herself, she just needed Amie and Ben, who she was sharing a cell with, to be warm. To be healthy and protected. "They're just little kids; Amie and Ben have done nothing wrong. They're three and one for god's sake, they're innocent," she repeated. She had heard somewhere, probably on the TV, that if you personalised the victim then the 'bad guy' wouldn't be as _bad._Obviously, this didn't work. Maybe it was only on the TV.

'The man' continued to ignore her as she pleaded, begged and rattled the locked door that kept them as prisoners as violently as she could. Nothing was working, until another tactic came into her mind.

"What if you had kids? Would you want them locked in a cold dark cell with no proper food or water? You'd be a terrible father!" she screamed. And then 'the man' snapped, launching himself towards the door she was behind.

He unlocked the door fast hastily and lurched forward, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the room, into the unknown...

*Present*

_Everything hurt. Whenever she tried to move, it hurt. She was still drenched from when they had hosed her down to get rid of some of the blood, that had brought her back to consciousness momentarily before slipping back into the darkness. They had hit her, kicked her__,__and stabbed her. There had been three men in the room with her but she had only felt two of them attacking her. One thing she could vividly remember was when one of the men asked if they should stop, this was when she had been on the verge of unconsciousness. A gunshot to the head was his reply, he didn't want to be there anyway__,__but that wasn't exactly the way he wanted to leave._

_Ben cautiously walked up to her and started to clean away any blood that he could see left over on her body. As careful as the three year old was the action still made her want to scream out in pain. She took the blanket off of him and used all of her strength left to tear a small strip away. Once it was free, she used it to wrap around the open wound on her right leg. They had stabbed her, only once and non-fatally, but now she knew what the others had gone through._

_Everything was silent in the corridor, normally she could hear one of the not-so-important men pacing up and down, keeping an eye on them._Like we could escape from this prison, _she thought to herself grimly. There was no one out there__,__which only meant one thing; someone else had died. It should've been her. Why had they left her, why hadn't they killed her when they had the chance? This, she didn't know, however, she did know that the men were gone therefore someone_was_dead._

"_Dad?" she called out, finally bringing up the courage to call out to the other cells. She was at a disadvantage because she couldn't see what was on the outside, but at least she could hear._

"_You okay, Georgie?" he whispered back. He was closer than she thought, maybe in the next room or maybe across from her. She was worried about her other sisters, she didn't know who was left or how many. Hopefully they were all still alive, but the chances of that were near enough impossible._

"_I'm fine," she lied, still not able to move because of the pain. "I've got Amie and Ben in here too, they're fine, they've not touched them," she informed him. Andrew sighed in relief, three of his children were safe. Well two, he could see through his eldest daughters act even when she was in a different room. "Who's with you?" she asked, not even sure if she wanted to know the answer._

"_I'm on my own but I can see Ellie, she's across from me. Your mum and Maddie... they... well," he began, tears springing in his eyes._

"_The men shot mum and Maddie. They're dead," said Ellie emotionally. The eleven year old had seen too much in the days they had spent wherever they were, much more than anyone would see in their whole life. "Someone came into our room while you were out there and took Chloe. I doubt she'll be back, she's probably dead too," she said matter-of-factly. Georgia could hear the sadness and anger in her voice, she was trying to hide but she knew her too well._

_They all felt the same; guilty and useless. Silence fell over them as one of the men re-entered the corridor, he was muttering to someone on the phone, inaudible to Georgia. They all waited ten minutes listening out to see if Chloe would be brought back to the room like Georgia had been. But as time faded away realisation sprung on them. She wasn't coming back._

_Chloe was most likely dead. Just like their mum and Maddie._

_At least they were together._

* * *

"Booth!" Angela yelled from her office hoping that it would wake him up from his place on the couch in Brennan's office. "Booth!" she yelled again. She saw through the glass door as he slowly sat up from the couch and trudged to the office door. "I've found something!" She laughed to herself as he almost ran to her office at the news. "Well that got your attention," she joked as he entered her office.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, what you got?" he asked, trying not to smile. If he smiled, she had won.

"I've been looking through Bren's financial records and there was nothing for a couple of days but now... Now there's something," she said as she brought an image of her bank records onto the big screen. "She took $500 out of an ATM in Arlington a few minutes ago, she's close Booth," she explained, smiling. Her friend was close by. She was in driving distance. She looked at Booth's face and for the first time in days she saw hope. "I'm just waiting for the ATM CCTV camera video to download and we can see for definite that it's her."

As they waited, Cam and Hodgins walked into the room, both of them with smiles on their faces. They had heard Angela's outburst from where they were working and quickly made their way to her office, though not as quick as Booth had been. They stood behind where Booth and Angela stood, knowing what they had found by looking at the documents still on the screen.

A ding on the computer let them know that the video had finished downloading and Angela responded quickly by finding the right time in the video. As she played the video all four faces suddenly fell, this wasn't what they were hoping for. Once again, everything had been shattered. They had been so close but now they were so far away. Angela paused the video and what should've been the right point but instead of seeing Brennan's face they saw an older man with grey streaked hair taking money out of the account.

Thomas Edwards had gotten Temperance Brennan's bankcard somehow.

Both women were left confused as the men in the room recalled an event that seemed so long ago when in fact it was only last week. Thomas Edwards was Pete's father, Brennan had told them that Max was meeting up with him or had met up with him but she had called him Tom – she obviously knew him well.

"That is not Dr. B," Hodgins stated, receiving a glare from each of the others. "What! I was only saying," he defended quickly.

"Why would Thomas Edwards have Bren's bank card? I mean, why would a man wanted in ten states have her bankcard? It doesn't make sense... Unless... No that can't have happened, could it? Could he have..." she said, unable the finish the question.

"He's Pete's father," Booth answered simply. "Pete is the friend that I told you about the other day, the childhood friend. She trusts them both. He won't have done anything to her," he reassured her, and himself. He didn't know what he'd do if something had happened to her; it was bad enough that she was hiding someone and he didn't know where she was.

"She trusts a murderer?" questioned Cam, still shocked at the face on the screen, she had heard many stories of what the man had done, but never had she seen him for herself. Not many people had, he was a hard man to catch.

"She trusts her dad doesn't she?" responded Hodgins, trying to reason with them even though he had no idea why. Dr. B was like family to him and if this man had done something to her then he would hunt him down, if Booth didn't get there before him. He didn't care if she trusted him, he was a murderer, and he didn't trust him.

"That's different though, he's her dad. This guy isn't," said Angela, not able to pull her gaze away from the picture, the man's eyes staring into hers. This man was a killer. This man had Bren's bankcard. That didn't look too good to Angela.

Booth sighed. As much as he agreed what they were all saying he also remembered what Brennan had said to him when he had found out that she knew him. He trusted Brennan and if she trusted Thomas Edwards then that meant he wouldn't hurt her, that he was helping her with whatever she was trying to do. Hopefully.

* * *

Simultaneously, they all climbed out of the car. The journey down to the woods had been silent, nobody knew what to say but they were all thinking the same thing. Someone else was dead.

Brennan, Tommy, Max and Charlie all looked around the scene with sorrow in their eyes. The orange flames were small; they flickered in the wind just about to die out. Obviously, the murderer had been in a rush and hadn't had the time to set the fire properly. The three men all came to where Brennan stood at the foot of the body and at the same time they threw the bottled water that they had been carrying onto the body to kill the rest of the flames.

"The remains..." Brennan began but realised that it wouldn't affect _her_work, maybe it would affect the results at the lab but right now that didn't concern her. She wasn't with the lab right now. "It doesn't matter," she sighed.

Max looked around the crime scene assessing the situation. "Temperance you look at the body, find out as much as you can we don't have much time. Tommy you take a look around, see if there's anything else around here that can help us, I'll take some pictures, that's what you do at a crime scene right?" he asked. Brennan nodded, crouching down beside the body. She needed to get started quickly, as Max had said; they didn't have a lot of time before the officials got there. "Charlie you keep a look out; warn us if you hear anything." Charlie nodded and began to pace around the edge of the crime scene.

Around ten minutes later, Charlie ran back to the middle of the crime scene. "Cars approaching, we need to get out of here quick. They'll be here in about two minutes," he said as loud as he could so the others could hear but quiet enough so that anyone in the surrounding area wouldn't hear.

They quickly grabbed anything that they had brought with them and ran back to the dirt road where they had left the car.

"Did we get everything?" Max asked as they ran.

"Nearly, but it would be easier if we had more help. I know my job would be," Brennan replied. They heard the sirens get louder in the distance and picked up the pace they were running at. They couldn't afford to be caught.

* * *

"Someone got there before us," Hodgins stormed as he, Booth and Wendell re-entered the lab. Cam met them at the door with a confused expression on her face. Hodgins barged past her on his way to his workstation to work on the little evidence he had managed to get.

"Someone, other than the murderer, had been the crime scene before we got there," Booth repeated. "He's... a little angry," Booth understated.

"How? I mean, how could anyone else have known about the crime scene? You were the first to be told about it right?" asked Cam, confused with the whole situation.

"The FBI is looking into it now. I hate to say it, but I think they have someone on the inside," admitted Booth. "It's the only way someone would know before us, someone must have leaked the information."

"How bad is the crime scene?" asked Cam, unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

"There are several different footprints, we've got moulds, but they'll probably come back with nothing. There was a similar circle of paint deeper in the woods but whatever was in the centre has been taken. I don't know about the body, that's not my area of expertise," he said, motioning for Wendell to carry on.

"There were little particulates for Hodgins to find, whoever was there wasn't very careful but maybe they did that purposely, maybe they want to stop us. I don't know. I do know, however, the body was covered in some sort of liquid but from what I can tell it's probably just water. Maybe to put out the flames with, the body was burnt like the previous bodies. Someone had a look at the body, they've moved pieces of flesh to look closer to the bones," explained Wendell as the EMT's wheeled the body into the lab and up onto the platform.

They followed closely behind them and Cam assisted as they transferred the body onto one of the steel autopsy tables. Just from a quick glance at the body, Cam could tell one thing.

It was another child. Another girl.

There were still pieces of bloodstained clothing attached to the body, pieces that had not been destroyed in the fire. From what she could see, it looked like grey jogging bottoms and a plain pink t-shirt. They all turned as footsteps walked up the steps. Angela walked onto the platform, sketchpad and pencil cradled to her chest; ready to do a facial reconstruction. Angela would do the facial reconstruction and Cam would try to salvage some DNA. Both women trying to get an ID on the little girl as soon as possible.

Angela stood at the head of the body looking at the facial structure as Cam and the other interns worked on the body to try to discover cause of death.

* * *

"It's Chloe," Brennan announced, looking up from the photos and the notes she had written since returning from the crime scene. They had been back just over an hour and currently they were sitting around a small table that they had dragged out from the corner of the room. Zach sat on one of the mattresses near to them, playing with a few of the toys he had brought from Brennan's house, oblivious to the conversation that was going on in front of him.

"How do you know that?" Max asked, not doubting his daughters abilities just so that he could write it down for their own files that they had started collecting.

"The teddy that we found in the centre of the red circle deeper into the woods was a panda," she began to explain, putting the teddy into the centre of the table. They had took it from the crime scene so that they could have it just in case, it would've had no evidence that he lab could work with anyway. "Chloe had a black and white panda teddy as her 'special teddy', she called it Frederick," she said laughing at the memory that she had recalled; the first time she had met Chloe was the first time she had met the Frederick the Panda too. "Evidence on the body backs this up; the bones were of a Caucasian female aged between eight and twelve, this meant that it was either Chloe or Ellie. However, there was no sign of a broken finger, which would've been evident in Ellie's bones. From all these facts I can determine that the body is that of Chloe Kent, of course I could be wrong but my _gut_ tells me that I'm not," she explained. Memories of Booth trusting his gut flooding into her mind.

"That's good enough for us," insisted Tommy. "Did you find out how she died?" he asked.

"With the time I had, I didn't really get a chance to look at cause of death in detail but from my primary examination I think that she was most likely killed in the same way that Maddie and Rachel were. Stabbed and shot," she told them. She hated the fact that she couldn't be precise in her findings, that she couldn't have spent more time with the body. For the first time in her professional career she had said the phrase 'I think' and she hated it.

"Murderers tend to stick with the same MO, so you're probably right there," added Charlie.

"We're not exactly experts but we couldn't see anything else that stood out for the crime scene and we haven't exactly got the equipment to test any soil samples or anything like that but hopefully our informant on the inside can get us that information," Tommy stated.

"And if not, we can go in the old fashioned way," joked Charlie. "Masks and guns," he said, making the three men laugh while Brennan sat back and rolled her eyes.

"We need more help," Brennan stated as the laughter died down. "We managed today but we still didn't get everything we could've done and the FBI are going to realise that someone's been to the crime scene before them soon, if they haven't already done so," she explained. The three men straightened up as the conversation turned serious once again and took a minute to think about what they could do to increase the help they had.

"We could get Pete to come help us, he could ask the twins to look after Dylan and Zach as we'll not be gone long, as you said we don't have much time," suggested Tommy.

"It might help us get more pictures or more security but what about helping Tempe, she can't look at everything on the body in ten minutes alone," admitted Max, sighing. They had sorted one thing out but none of them knew how to address the other situation.

"I don't suppose you know of any anthropologists that would go again a federal government agency, do you?"

"I do," muttered Brennan as she sat up on the sofa. She hadn't wanted it to go this far but it was the only solution that she could think of. "Zach Addy," told them. Max vaguely knew of the man she was talking about, he had been the anthropologist on the prosecution side when he had gone to trial. Brennan looked at their blank expressions and began to explain more. "Zach was my grad student a few years ago, until he was put into a psychiatric clinic. It was either that or go to prison for working with Gormagon, his apprentice to be exact."

"Gormagon? You mean that cannibal that was taken down by the feds a few years back?" asked Charlie, distantly remembering hearing about it from a _friend_ when it had first happened; he had been on the run back then too. Brennan nodded her head. "Jeez, that guy was... something. So this Zach, he killed someone?"

"No... I mean, yes... I mean, apparently he killed one person while he was with him. That's why he was put into the psychiatric clinic but..." she said, trailing off. Memories of the day they had found out that Zach was Gormagons' apprentice coming back to haunt her once again.

"And he's good? I mean at all the bones stuff and that?" asked Tommy. He looked at the other two men, silently coming up with a plan that would help them even more. Brennan nodded again. "So if we got this Zach Addy out of the clinic he could help you?"

"Yes, but..." she began but was cut off by Max.

"He could help us Tempe, we need to use what sources we have, and we need this."

"It'll be a piece of cake breaking him out of that place, trust us," assured Charlie.

"Fine," she sighed and stood up from the sofa to leave them to work out how to get Zach out while she went to see how her son was doing. She decided that she needed to have some more quality time with him.

* * *

They had found little, almost nothing; it was just confirming what they had already suspected. Booth was presently sitting in Brennan's office, behind her desk, in her chair. Staring at the framed photo that she had recently moved onto her desk; it was one of her and Zach most likely in the park, the same day that they group picture had been taken.

As he looked into the blue orbs of her eyes, he realised just how much he loved her. Deep down, he always had but right now, at this very moment, the love he felt was more than he had ever loved someone else. The night that they had spent together, they had only slept but it was the best night he had in a long time. The feeling of her falling to sleep in his arms was one that he wanted to have regularly. It had broken his heart when he woke up to find her gone the next morning.

_Why did she run?_ That was one of the questions that had wedged in his mind since the day he had found her missing. He didn't know why, couldn't understand why, none of them could. Didn't she trust them enough? Was it to protect them? If so, then what was she protecting them from? What was so bad that she felt the need to go into hiding to protect them? But the main question in his head was _why had she run?_

The more he thought about it, the more he came to realise that he didn't care. He didn't care what had happened; he didn't care why it had happened. The only thing he cared about was getting her back, getting her _and_Zach back. He made a silent promise to both himself and Brennan that he would figure everything out. He would find out the truth and he would bring them both back. Bring them back so that they could be a family again; him Brennan, Parker and Zach.

As he re-focussed on the photo that was still in his hands, he began to wonder why the others hadn't seen the connection between Brennan and Zach. They had been trying to solve the case but then again, they had had enough time to kill while all the leads went cold. They had the medical records right in front of them, they could've compared it. But they hadn't and it was still a secret that only he knew.

Brennan wasn't here but he had made a promise to her, he had promised not to say anything to them until she was ready. And that's what he would do, however hard it would be, he would keep his promise. As always.

Unbeknownst to him, Angela was looking at the very same photo in the office across.

* * *

"They're not getting far," Freddie admitted over the phone. Tommy had called him to see if they had gotten anything different to what they had. "They found out that it was you and not Tempe taking money out of the ATM. That was funny to watch, their faces just dropped..."

"_Freddie,"_snapped Tommy, bringing him back out of his memory and back into the present. _"Anything relevant?"_he asked his son.

"Nothing much, they established that the body was Chloe Kent a while back and cause of death was just as Tempe said; stabbing and gunshot. The fire was just that, fire, no accelerants were used or anything. Booth's pacing up and down waiting for some answers," he explained in a hushed voice, just in case someone was watching him or listening in. Brennan's heart dropped as soon as she heard it. Freddie kicked himself mentally as he heard her gasp over the phone, if he had known that he was on speaker he wouldn't have said anything. He knew how much she was blaming herself for leaving them all. "Sorry," he mumbled before he continued with what he had seen. "The bug guy, Hodgins, he's found nothing much. All I heard was that they were all kept in the same place and he keeps complaining that someone was at the crime scene before him. He keeps snapping this rubber band that he's got around his wrist, it's quite funny actually." He heard Brennan laugh on the other end of the phone at the thought of Hodgins with his anger management rubber band. Freddie smiled, he loved to hear her laugh, and they all did; especially when it was so rare these days. "That's pretty much..." he began but trailed off at the sound of shouting coming from across the lab.

"_What is it? What's happened?"_Brennan asked frantically as she snatched the phone from Tommy trying to see if she could hear what was going on better.

"Why didn't you tell me he was her son?" Angela shrieked.

**Thanks for reading (: Please review, it'd make my day =D **

**~LittleMiss (: **


	13. Chapter 13

**(a/n) Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my last chapter (: Sorry I've not updated in a while, school's been mega busy and I got bomb-barded (is that a real word? It doesn't look like it, but use it all the time :/ Anyway...) with loads of homework and essays to write - not fun :(. Hopefully I'll update soon as I've done all the work I have to do for now, I'll work on it tonight maybe. However, I'm stuck with my brothers laptop for the moment because mine has gone - my mums borrowing it for work as it's the best one out of them all :D. **

**Still found time to watch the new episodes of Bones - I managed to write an essay on the relationships between the characters so it was classed as homework ;). I really don't like Booth's new girlfriend... nothing to do with her personally, it's just that it should've been Brennan as Cam said (:. Hopefully something will happen between them soon XD.**

**Rant over, thanks again, please review and let me know what you think (: **

*****Chapter Thirteen*****

Angela stormed into Brennan's office where Booth was still sat, however now he was just sat back in her chair, he had put the photo back in the same place on her desk. He looked up and sat up straight when he saw the angry look on her face and a photo of Brennan and Zach clutched to her chest. It was bad.

"What's up?" he asked casually, trying to calm her down and act like everything was all right. She ignored his question; instead she thrust the photo she held into his face. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the questions and the shouting that was about to come. People had started to gather outside the office but she didn't care, all she wanted were answers.

"Why didn't you tell me he was her son?" she demanded, throwing the photo down onto the desk in anger.

"What? Angela I don't know what or who you're talking about," he said calmly, trying to deny the fact that he knew. Something he knew wouldn't go down well but it was worth a try.

"Don't you dare lie to me Booth, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't _she _tell me?" she yelled.

"Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about? Who is whose son?" he asked, pretending to be confused.

"Zach is Brennan's son. Brennan is Zach's mother. Why didn't you tell me? _Please_, don't lie to me again," she pleaded. Booth's heart sank as he saw the true emotions behind the anger and the tears in her eyes. _What the hell_, he thought to himself. _She already knows, so why don't I just tell her_.

"She made me promise," he whispered. She looked at him confused, so he cleared his voice and started again, trying to explain a bit better. "I was round at Bones' and she was crying and then he just came out of nowhere! She told me everything, well almost everything. She made me promise not to say anything; I couldn't break a promise to her even when she's not here. I promised."

Angela took in everything she had just heard and took a deep breath as she thought what to say next. "She couldn't tell me this herself? She couldn't tell me, her _best _friend that she had a son? A five-year-old son," she exclaimed, trying to keep the anger out of her voice but Booth could still tell that it was there. "Why did she hide it from me?"

"She hid it from everyone!" he snapped. He hadn't meant to get angry with her, he saw her point but he was defending Brennan. "She didn't intentionally tell me either! I was as shocked as you were, but at least I didn't get angry with her from hiding it from us! You know what she's like, as you said you're her best friend. You know what she's like," he repeated.

"I thought I did," Angela mumbled. "But the Brennan I knew wouldn't hide the fact that she had a son!" Booth sighed, it was going to be an argument that wasn't going to end easily, but he was prepared to defend Brennan's actions for however long it would take. That's what partners did.

"From what I've gathered, she's only just come to terms with it herself. He was living with friends of hers; I think it's only recently that she's been in contact with him. She was scared at what everybody's reactions would be, she didn't know how people would act around her any more. There wasn't a suitable time for her to say it," he argued back.

"What about all those times? When she said that she didn't want to have children? Or what about that time when she wanted to have a baby? She could've said something then, but she didn't. Why? Why didn't she tell us?" she shouted back.

"I don't know," he admitted, his voice still raised. More and more people were gathering outside, including Hodgins and Cam, all listening in to the argument that was taking place inside the office but neither of them cared anymore; to them there was just the two of them. "I don't know why she does a lot of things, but she does. And no, she didn't tell _anyone _that she had a son, but she must have had her reasoning for it at the time. There is so much about her that we _don't _know because she bottles it all up, because she's too afraid to trust people. I can't tell you why she does things, she just does," he explained, his voice lowering in volume as he came to realise exactly what he was saying; they didn't know much about her.

"I guess you're right, I just... I just wish she would've told us. I wish she wouldn't cover up so much, I wish she knew how much we love her and that she can talk to us instead of running off like this," she said, in a normal volume, tears springing in her eyes.

"Me too, but that's not the way she is. She's safe, that's all I care about," he admitted.

"You love her don't you?" Angela asked, smiling through the tears that were rolling down her face.

"More than ever," he agreed, handing her a tissue and pulling her into a hug.

The small gathering of people outside of the office watched as they broke apart smiling and laughing. With no more tears being shed and no sign of any physical violence going to happen any time soon they broke apart sighing and commenting on the fact that that was about the most exciting thing that would happen any time soon. Hodgins and Cam stayed outside the door waiting until to pair inside walked out; they too had questions that needed to be asked. Both of them were still shocked at the outburst that had just taken place and the revelations that had just been revealed.

Freddie immediately put the phone back to his ear, remembering that the others were still on the other end of the line. "You are not going to believe what has just happened here," he began as he started to tell them about the event that had just taken place.

* * *

Back at the warehouse, Tommy hung up the phone with the promise that Freddie would either call them or stop by at the warehouse as soon as his shift ended in an hour.

"What happened? Who was it? What did he say?" asked Brennan frantically.

"Everything's fine, he's going to ring us back later. Something happened, something not important, and he needs to sort it out," explained Tommy, trying to calm her down.

"It's probably just two lab people getting into some fight," suggested Charlie, joining Tommy into trying to ease her panic and distress.

"But what if it isn't? What if something really bad has happened? Something to do with the case. What if it's my fault?" She sat down on the sofa and rested her head in her hands, but resting was something she was _not _doing. Since the phone call ended, she had considered numerous different scenarios of things that could've taken place. It was all getting too much for her; she needed to get out for a while. She needed to be anywhere but where she was right now. "I need to go for a walk," she whispered under her breath, still not looking back up.

"You know that's not safe," Max pointed out, suddenly going into over-protective parent mode even though he knew exactly what she meant. It was hard to keep cooped up in one place for a large amount of time.

"I don't care anymore," she admitted, finally looking up at them and standing up so that they didn't have a height advantage. "I can't stay in here every minute of every day; talking about death, thinking about death and then planning some more. The only time I do actually go out is because of death; because someone else has died, for no apparent reason at the moment. I can't do it. I need a break," she snapped.

"There's a nice park about twenty minutes away from here on foot, there's a playground that Zach could play on. Not many people go there anymore," Max suggested. She smiled softly at her father grabbing Zach's coat from the back of the sofa and calling him over from where he sat.

The five year old looked up as his name was called and ran over to where his mother was crouched, holding his coat so that he could slip right into it. A big smile spread across his face. "We going out mummy?" he asked innocently.

Brennan nodded taking a hold of his hand, "We sure are."

* * *

Brennan entered the secluded park, still holding onto Zach's hand, half an hour later. The park was only small, trees surrounding several benches and a children's playground. There were only a few people there, obviously it wasn't as well known as she thought it was. She quickly scanned the faces of each person there, no one that either of them knew. They were safe.

Brennan let go of Zach's hand, allowing him to go and play with the other children while she sat down on one of the wooden benches, trying to relax and take in the scenery around her. The trees swayed gently in the wind, crisp leaves fluttering down to the ground to meet the last of the season's flowers. She watched her son interact with another boy, overhearing his 'mission' that had to be done. She smiled to herself at her son's happiness.

She let thoughts of Booth drift to the front of her mind, allowing them to take over. The time she had spent away from him she had realised something, something that if she had realised sooner maybe things wouldn't be the way they were. They could be together; they could be a family. He could've known the truth and everything would be all right. They would both be happy.

But now she knew why people didn't know the secrets; people could get angry at the Kent's choices, at the choices the parents made. People could get angry and take revenge. That's what was happening now and people were dying because of it. Children were dying. She wished with all her heart that if she closed her eyes and re-opened them that she could be back in Booth's arms. She wished she never left him that morning to go with her father even though she still believed it was the right thing to do.

Soon, most of the men she trusted the most were going to risk their lives to do something for her. They would break into a highly secure psychiatric clinic to break out Dr. Zach Addy to help _her _identify the remains of _her _friends. It would be risky but they were willing to do and as they had said before, they needed all the sources they could get.

_Booth could get hurt _she thought to herself. Booth could get involved in it somehow and he could get hurt. _He's already hurt _she taunted herself. He was out there looking for her, praying that she would come home; that's what she had been told. Of course she couldn't see for herself. If it wasn't for her, Booth would be fine. He would be the same old Booth, cracking jokes and backing her up.

He would be Booth. Her Booth.

Looking down at her watch she noted the time, they had been out for almost 2 hours and it was beginning to get dark. Before she stood up to leave, she made a silent promise to herself, to Booth and to Zach; she _would _find out what happened and then maybe they could be a family together. She loved Zach _and _she loved Booth.

She called Zach over who said 'goodbye' to his newly made friend and ran over to where Brennan was standing. He took hold of her hand again and looked up her, the same smile still on his face from earlier. He hadn't stopped smiling since he had left the warehouse, he was happy.

"You okay mummy?" he asked innocently, noting her sad expression.

"I'm fine Zach, I just miss someone that's all," she admitted to her son.

"Booth?" he asked. Brennan nodded and began walking back to the entrance of the park so that they cold exit. "I bet he's missing you too." He still knew Booth's secret, he still knew that Booth loved his mummy. He also knew that his mum obviously loved him back but what he didn't know was why they weren't with him now. "How come we're not with him now? How come we're with granddad?" he asked as they walked through the entrance to the park and back towards the warehouse.

"It's complicated," she sighed. "Your granddad and the others are just helping me with something at the moment, and _hopefully _as soon as it's over we can see Booth again," she explained with as little detail as possible. He was too young to even know about the deaths.

"It's something to do with Auntie Rach and Uncle Andy isn't it? That's why I'm staying with you and not them," he observed. Brennan sighed again; she didn't know how to answer his question, she didn't even _know _the answer to the question.

"Yes, that's why you're staying with me. Something's happened and we're trying to sort it all out."

"I prefer it when I stay with you," Zach whispered. "I love you mummy," he said looking up to see her reaction. Brennan looked down at him and smiled.

"I love you too."

The rest of the walk was silent between them, both too busy thinking to make a conversation. Suddenly, Brennan picked up the pace of the walk. Something didn't feel right, she felt as though she was being watched. There were a few other people walking down the street with them but they all kept their heads down. From behind her she saw a flash and heard someone curse to themselves. She took a quick look over her shoulder; someone was partially hiding behind a small wall which led to an ally way pressing buttons on a small digital camera. From where she stood she could make out that the person, who was all dressed in black, had at least one gun.

She quickly picked up Zach who was stood looking at her confused and quickened the pace so that she could get around the corner, out of sight, faster. Once they were away from the man, Brennan took a deep breath before looking down at Zach.

"We need to get back to the Warehouse and quick, okay?" Zach nodded eagerly, not knowing what his mother had seen but knowing it was something bad for her to act like this. "We're going to keep our heads down and not cause a scene but when we do get to the warehouse do not say _anything _about this to the others."

"I promise mummy," he vowed before they set off again at a faster pace than before. Whoever had been following them was far behind and not knowing which direction they had taken.

Brennan knew only a few things. One, she wasn't going to say anything when she got back; it would cause too much panic and disturbance. Another, the man that was following them had a gun. And finally, the man was FBI. The FBI had found out where she had gone, they were following her and she, herself, needed to do something about it.

They entered the warehouse fifteen minutes later, both out of breath from their 'walk' back. They went into the main room that they were staying in and were surprised to see that Freddie and Pete were there, as well as Pete's three children. On the table there was an assortment of pizza's, a couple of boxes of fries and three bottles of cola.

"How was your walk?" asked Max, smiling at his daughter.

"Fine, no one saw us," she lied looking down at her son who nodded; he silently promised to go along with the lie.

"I made a new friend!" Zach announced, changing the subject. "At the playground there was another boy there and we started playing this game..." he began explaining to Max. Brennan left the two of them talking, took off jacket and sat down in between Pete and Freddie.

"Dinner is served," Pete commented, pointing towards the pizza boxes that were now half-empty. Brennan smiled and lifted out a piece of Margareta pizza. "We decided that we all need to get together to talk about what's going to happen and what has happened." Brennan nodded, unable to talk because of the pizza she was currently eating.

Max came over to sit with them around the table once Zach had told him his story and gone to play with Dylan on the other side of the room. They allowed Jess and James to stay at the table with them; Pete had given them permission to be an essential part of the plan if it was needed. They had been told almost everything about what was happening.

"About the call," Freddie began. "I'm sorry for just ending and not telling you there and then but I had to sort out the crowd and do my _job_," he explained.

"What happened?" asked Brennan, panic rising in her voice. She tried to prepare herself just in case it was something bad.

"Angela found out about Zach, she now knows that he's your son. Well, the whole of the Jeffersonian now knows; she kinda shouted it a bit loud. They had an argument but things seemed all right by the time I left."

"That's it?" Brennan asked, sighing in relief. If she had known that was all that happened then she wouldn't have gotten so worried. "Angela was going to find out sometime I guess."

"What? You mean you're all right with it all?"

"Can't change anything now can I? I thought it was something much worse than this but, what's happened has happened; I can't change anything about it," she stated rationally, shocking the rest of them.

"At least she's cool with it," added James, smiling at Brennan to show his support.

"We need to talk about what's happening with the whole 'break out' situation," began Max, changing the subject. "Charlie, Tommy and I have spoke about it, but we just need to make sure that everyone else is okay with it and they know what they're going to do."

"You two lads okay with coming with us for the extra help?" Tommy asked his two sons.

"Sure, I've not got work in the morning," joked Freddie.

"I'm up for it but what about the kids, we can't leave them alone if we don't know how everything will end," asked Pete.

"That's where Tempe comes in, she's going to stay here at the warehouse with all four of the children," he explained. "We've already sorted out a car for her; it's currently round back with the key in the ignition. We're going to leave bottles of gasoline in the corner and everything we've collected has been packed away, just in case something happens," he said, nodding towards Jess and James. They both smiled to themselves; they were finally getting included, even if it wasn't a huge part they were getting treated like adults.

"If anything does happen, the two of you need to help Tempe with whatever she needs. You'll need to get out of here pretty quick, okay?" The twins nodded, accepting what they had to do.

"Hopefully, nothing will happen but we're preparing for the worst," explained Charlie.

"Have you figured out exactly how you're going to get to Zach?" asked Brennan worriedly.

"We're going to be leaving tonight, in the middle of the night, we need to get this over and done with as soon as possible," said Tommy.

"There'll be less people around and more shadows – two factors which will help us with what we have to do," Charlie mentioned. "We'll be fine," he promised. "All of us."

* * *

Booth, Angela, Cam and Hodgins were all sat in Booth's office at the Hoover building talking to another agent that they had just recently met. Agent Richard Fletcher.

"I tried not to get too close so that she would notice me but I tried to get close enough to take a decent photo," Fletcher explained. "She was at the park for almost two hours, I could've got a good picture there but I'd left the camera in the car and I didn't want to lose her by going back."

"But you actually saw her?" asked Angela still shocked by the fact that the FBI had someone following Bren without them knowing. There excuse for not informing them was that they had nothing to tell them. Not even Booth knew about it. Now that they had some information, they had told them about it. They hadn't wanted to get their hopes up.

"I was sat on a bench opposite her, Zach was playing on the playground there with a few other children."

"Do you know what she was doing there? Was it a drop? A meet?" asked Booth, still furious that they hadn't told them about the assignment.

"She was just sitting there; no one came up to her, she didn't retrieve anything, she didn't call anyone. She watched Zach for a while but then she just stared into space. I followed them as they left the park; I manage to get the camera from the car when they nipped into one of the shops still open. I took a few pictures from far away without her noticing so I tried to get a bit closer. Then the stupid camera decided to flash when I took a picture and that's when she turned around," he explained.

"Did she see you?" Hodgins asked.

"I don't know, as soon as it happened I tried to hide down an alleyway but she could've seen me. I waited for a few minutes and when I got back onto the street she was gone. I tried looking around for her but I could find her anywhere – all I know is that in the direction she was initially heading in there's nothing there."

"What do you mean?" asked Booth confused.

"I mean, that the street comes to a dead end. Once you walk down the street, you turn a corner and it's a dead end. There's a small alleyway that leads to cobbled driveway, follow that and it's an abandoned warehouse. There's nothing there," he revealed.

"What if she was heading to the warehouse? It could be where they've been hiding out?" suggested Hodgins.

"A random warehouse?" questioned Booth. It was a long shot but it _could _lead them to where Brennan was.

"I'll look for a link and an address," announced Angela, walking around the desk so that she could work on Booth's computer. "I'll let you know as soon as I've found something," she promised even though they weren't leaving the room any time soon, it had just become something she had said more frequently lately.

"Have we got enough for a warrant? To search the place or at least ask some questions," asked Cam, sitting in one of the chairs opposite Booth's. She had kept quiet for a while to try and process all the information that she'd recently discovered so that she could keep a level head when the others couldn't.

"No, the pictures I did manage to take weren't very good. We couldn't get a warrant based on what I saw and we can't get identification on the back of her head," Fletcher explained sadly.

"I've got the address," declared Angela, writing it down on a piece of paper and handing it to Booth.

"Can't you just stake out the place and wait for something to happen?" suggested Hodgins.

"We don't want to alarm any of them in there; we don't know what they'd do. They could run or they could start fire. We don't know what sort of weapons they've got with them," Booth explained, shuddering at the thought of _his _Bones with a gun in her hands.

"We'll just have to wait until something happens."

* * *

**Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you think (: **

**~LittleMiss (: **


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the realllyyy long wait, school has been hectic recently... Too much coursework! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my last chapter (: Hopefully i'll get another chapter written soon... I say that all the time, but this time i've already started it (: **

**Disclaimer: I checked over and over again, but i still don't own Bones :/. **

*****Chapter Fourteen*****

Max was hiding behind a dark blue pick-up truck in the parking lot waiting for exactly the right moment. He looked over the where Tommy, Charlie, Pete and Freddie were stood; each of them were behind a different car or cement pole. They had a few minutes to kill until it all started, at the right time, the time when the guards switched shifts. They all waited silently for Max to give the signal.

They watched as a single guard walked by with a pair of earphones in, oblivious to the fact that he wasn't alone in the parking lot. The guard was tall, muscular, and hairy, but he would be easy to take out even if they were alone. One by one they looked over to where Max stood as he silently gave the 'nod'.

The guard bobbed his head to whatever music he was listening to as he entered the pass-code to open the stainless steel door. Slowly they all crept forward encircling the guard. As soon as the door beeped open they jumped him; Tommy threw a sack over his head and held him back, with the help of Freddie, as Charlie knocked him unconscious as humanely as possible. They had promised Brennan that they would try not to hurt too many people, as hard as that would be. It took Charlie little effort as the element of surprise had helped them with their task. Pete gathered everything they had brought with them while Max made sure that the door didn't close on them and ruin all their efforts before they had even begun.

They quickly dragged his body through the door and behind a small brick wall, hidden away from sight where all the workers' personal belongings were kept. Max shut the door once they were all inside the small corridor and heard as the lock clicked quietly back into place.

They stood together in a circle and took a deep breath; this was where it would all begin. Max took his phone out of his jacket pocket and dialled the only number he had saved on it; Brennan's.

"_Hello?"_answered Brennan from down the line, just in case it was a wrong number.

"It's us Tempe, just to let you know that we're all okay and everything is going exactly to plan; we're inside the front corridor right now," he said in a hushed voice, so that no one in the surrounding area would hear him.

"_Everything is good here too, nothing has happened but we're still fully prepared,"_explained Brennan as briefly as she could. They didn't have much time and none of them were going to waste valuable time right now. _"We'll see you later, good luck."_

"Love you Tempe, we'll see you when we get back," he said before he hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

"Well let's get going!" exclaimed Charlie, as he began walking to the end of the corridor. Pete grabbed the guard's security card out of his top. They all followed behind Charlie and allowed Pete to get to the front as they reached the door, he softly swiped the card through the alarm, and the door opened for them instantly.

Not only was it the time when the guards switched shifts it was also the time when the patients were allowed to wander freely between the different communal rooms. They made their way trying to avoid as many patients as possible but unfortunately, that wasn't working for them. Patients shouted and screamed as they walked past some even trying to stop them but most of them were left curled up on the floor in pain or crumpled against the wall – all of them still alive at least. As they were about to round a corner one of the patients jumped out, trying to stop them. Tommy didn't think, instantly he drew out his gun and let three bullets rip through the man's chest. They all looked at each other as the man fell to the floor. Dead.

"Brennan doesn't have to know," Max whispered. They all nodded their heads in agreement even though they knew that it wouldn't be able to be kept a secret for long. But what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

The patients turned silent as they watched one of their own die right in front of them. Some of the patients slowly crept back into the rooms that they had come from while others stood where they were, their backs pressed tightly against the wall; none of them daring to go near the intruders that had weapons.

"Well, what do we need to do now?" asked Freddie as they stood, still staring at the man that had died. The three older men had each killed many people but still this hadn't meant to happen, their plan had changed.

"We'll still do what we planned," decided Max. "It's not going to stop anything; we're nearly there now, Zach's room is down a few more corridors according to the maps." Everyone agreed with him and they began walking along once again, but this time with no one harassing them and their guns drawn so that they would be ready for anything.

"You know what I've been thinking," Pete began as they walked along another empty corridor. "Why haven't we seen any other guards? I mean, we only saw that one at the door, where are the rest?" he pointed out, causing them all to stop. They turned to look around at him and he shrugged. "I'm just saying."

"You've got a point," admitted Tommy. "But as long as they don't bother us it should be fine."

They rounded a corner where five guards stood waiting for them, all with stun guns in their hands.

"Found them," Charlie chuckled, as he aimed his gun higher pointing at one of the guards' chest.

"What do you want?" questioned the guard who stood at the front of all the others, obviously the negotiator that had been picked out. "We won't shoot if you don't give us any reason to," he reasoned.

"We came here for one thing and one thing only. We're not living without him. Now move out of our way before people get hurt," commanded Max, moving forward so that he was face to face with the guard.

"_Him_?"

"I said, move out of our way before _more_ people get hurt," he repeated with a sly smile on face.

"More?" stuttered a guard from the back of the group. Obviously, he wasn't used to this happening. It wasn't everyday that someone broke _into_the psychiatric clinic. Max looked over his shoulder to the others behind him. Tommy and Charlie both nodded; Charlie motioning Freddie to follow him and Tommy motioning to Pete to do the same. They each stood beside Max.

"We don't have much time," admitted Max.

"I suggest you move," Tommy added.

The front guard shook his head slowly, "You need to leave here, _now_!" he warned. Charlie laughed just as they all charged forward. The two pairs, Tommy/Pete and Charlie/Freddie, started attacking the guards while Max concentrated on making his way to the other end so that none of them could escape. Gunshots, grunts, and thumps could be heard all the way down the corridor causing the patients who were locked in their rooms to become agitated and nervous. Some banged on the doors, some asked for answers and others shouted for help that wouldn't be given.

They walked away from where the guards lay; either dead or unconscious. Only four bullets had been shot but that had been enough, more than they promised Brennan anyway. They carried on down the corridor, ignoring the hyped patients comments or actions.

As they walked away with their backs turned, one guard looked up at their retreating forms. He was barely conscious but he needed to get help and fast. He pulled out the company phone and dialled the first emergency number that he came across.

* * *

Angela, Hodgins, Booth, Cam and Agent Fletcher were still sat in Booth's office. Angela still hadn't found a link between the warehouse and Brennan, or any of the people they knew she was with.

"Booth!" shouted another agent from outside his office. A man in his late twenties wearing a suit walked into the doorway and opened it slightly; obviously, he wasn't staying long. "We just got a call from a guard at the Psychiatric Clinic just out of town; he says that there are at least five men who have just broken into the facility. Five presumed dead, we don't know how many have been hurt but the patients are in a right state. Director wants to speak to you," he explained quickly before leaving the doorway to tell the other agents that had been requested.

"Booth," Angela called from where she was still sat at his desk, still typing frantically on the keyboard. "I've finally tapped into Brennan's mobile number; it was re-activated about fifteen minutes ago. An in-coming call came just after that from an untraceable number. But there's another call coming in now, just tapping into... the... signal. Done," she said as Brennan's distinct voice could be heard all around the room.

"_What do you mean 'a few complications'? What's happening?" she asked anxiously. Jess and James shouted their own questions from where they stood trying to get some answers of their own._

"_Everything's fine Tempe," Max lied. "A few things aren't going to plan that's all; it might take a bit longer than we planned and we'll have to take a different way out. We won't be in contact for a while, just remember what we discussed and everyone will be fine." Brennan sighed, things were already going wrong and they hadn't been in the building for very long._

"_Just make sure everyone gets out safely, all five of you," she bargained, knowing that there was no other way out of it now. There was nothing she could say now to make them stop what they intended to do._

"_We will, I promise you. You just look after everyone over there," he said._

"_I will," she promised as they simultaneously hung up the phone._

"What the hell was that all about?" Angela exclaimed as the call ended. "Who were the people calling her?"

"The person on the phone sounded like Max to me," Cam observed, trying to keep as calm as possible, still sat in the chair while everyone around her stood.

"I recognise the kids' voices that you could hear in the background," admitted Booth. Cam looked at him confused. "They sounded like Pete's two eldest children; I met them when we first started the case."

"So Bren's near that stupid warehouse looking after some kids while Max and four other people are running round a psychiatric clinic with guns, and we have no idea who these other four people are! They could be anyone!"

"Why are they there, what does Dr. Brennan want from a psychiatric clinic?" asked Fletcher, who was just as confused as the rest of them.

"More like who," Hodgins announced, followed by a series of _what_'s from the others. "Zach's in that clinic, that's where he went," he pointed out.

"Zach," Angela whispered to herself. "We haven't heard from him in ages," she muttered sadly.

"Who's Zach?" Fletcher asked confused.

"Zach Addy was Dr. Brennan's first intern," began Hodgins while Booth rang the Director to see what he was needed for. "Long story short, he, he, erm, he got involved with a serial killer and ended up in the nut house instead of going to jail," he quickly explained, not going into too much detail because of the memories that he refused to bring up once again.

"Fletcher, you and me are on the team the director is sending out there. He wants us to meet in the conference room now to go through wants going to happen," he said, repeating what he had just been told on the phone. Booth began to follow Fletcher out of the door, stopping to turn around and talk to Cam, Angela, and Hodgins who were left in the room. "While we're gone, could you try and work out who's there," he asked. They all nodded. Once Booth had left the room, they all crowded around the computer to do research of their own.

* * *

Booth and Fletcher were sat in the back of an FBI issued van, looking at six screens, which alternated between different security cameras in the clinic. They watched as five men in black ski masks walked around the corridors, obviously looking for a particular room. Each of them held a different weapon; ranging from knives and guns, or both. They had orders to make contact with the men inside as quickly and efficiently as possible, using any means necessary.

One by one, the masked men crept into an empty office at the end of the corridor they had previously been walking down. The rest of the guards that hadn't been involved in the confrontation had been told to stay back and keep the patients at bay while the FBI tried to sort everything out from their end. The office was basic in the older part of the clinic, when the new extension had been built a new set of office's for the staff had been built with it so now these weren't used as much. However, the phone and the computer inside were still plugged in and connected to the network.

"Call the phone," insisted Booth, pointing to the where the phone could be seen on the screen.

"Booth, that's a pretty big long shot. They're not going to just answer a random phone, they've got to know _someone_ is outside by now," Fletcher argued. He knew how much Booth hated to be away from his partner, and how much he hated not to be able to just go inside to get the answers they needed.

"Just phone it," Booth sighed. It was the only shot they had right now, and they needed to take whatever they had thrown at them. They watched on the screen as the five men in the room all turned from where they stood to look at the phone, which was now ringing. They argued inaudibly, most likely about whether to answer the phone or to leave it and carry on. To their surprise, they picked up the phone on the final ring.

"_Took you long enough to contact us,"_stated Max as he picked up the phone. Both Booth and Fletcher stayed silent for a moment as they let the shock of them actually answering the phone quickly fade away. _"How long have you been just sitting out there, doing nothing?"_

"Max Keenan?" acknowledged Fletcher. Booth had agreed to let him speak at first so that they didn't know who they were talking to and let them have the upper hand.

"_Well done, you know my name just like everyone else,"_ he chuckled. "_Who am I speaking to?"_ Fletcher looked towards Booth, silently asking him what he should do; he had only been at the FBI for just over one year, and so far, he had never experienced anything like this. Booth nodded at him.

"Richard Fletcher, I'm an agent with the FBI," he stated as confidently as he could. The line went quiet momentarily as they saw Max turn to talk to the others on the screen.

"_Ahh, the FBI; I thought it would be you. It always seems to be you that want me. But like all those other times before, you can't stop us,"_he expressed, as he nodded along to the inaudible conversation between himself and the taller of the masked men.

"So it's not just you in there then?" he asked, pretending not to know as much as they did. "You have others helping you out," he said, as more of a statement than a question.

"_Don't play games with me_Agent_Fletcher; I know you know how__many__people I have with me! But that's all you do know, right?"_he noted.

Booth quickly pressed the mute button so that they could talk freely, without the risk of being overheard for a few seconds.

"He's trying to intimidate you, don't let him," Booth insisted.

"Then what do I do? I can't do this, I have no idea what to do, I can't... Why can't you do it?" he pointed out, almost pleading with him to switch roles.

"I can't, Max Keenan knows me too well; it's complicated. If things get any worse I'll take over, but right now you're doing fine, I promise," he assured, before un-muting the call so they could talk to Max once again. Booth gave him a reassuring smile which gave the extra confidence he needed to continue.

"_You have someone with you as well,"_Max noted matter-of-factly.

"I agree, there are a lot of people around here; both FBI and the state police. And we both want to know one thing; why are you breaking into a psychiatric clinic, what is it that you want? I'm sure there's an easier method to get it," Fletcher indicated with more confidence than before.

"_We're here to collect a package for a mutual friend, that's all we want. Nobody was supposed to get hurt,"_Max stated with the same amount of confidence Fletcher just had. Booth sighed; Max was good; he'd been doing this for most of his life, compared to Fletcher who had only just joined the FBI recently. They weren't going to get far if they continued with the same tactics for much longer.

"And how many people are hurt Max?" questioned Fletcher. "Just so we can get some help for them."

"_I think it's a bit late for paramedics now."_

"I'm sure it was just an accident. What's the package you're collecting?" he asked. Hoping that the sudden change in subject would cause him to give them some answers.

"_You think I'm just gonna tell you like that?"_laughed Max. _"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."_

"Would it have anything to do with a patient under the name of Zach Addy?"

"_You're smart, how long did it take you to work that out? Or did you have to get someone to work it out for you?"_Max asked as he chuckled to himself.

Fletcher looked at Booth, unsure of what to do next. They were wasting valuable time and getting nowhere. They both kept quiet for a moment, thinking of something they could do to change the situation they were in. Booth suddenly swapped seats with Fletcher and took control over the phone.

"Who are the others that you have with you?" Booth asked, breaking the silence and bringing Max's attention from Charlie's conversation back to the phone.

"_Booth?"_assumed Max, with a hint of surprise evident in his voice. _"Long time since we saw each other; how are you?"_Max asked, regaining his confidence and trying to hide the previous shock that he had.

"I asked you a question Max. You now know who Agent Fletcher was with, now it's only fair if you to do the same," restated Booth, hoping that his only plan would work the way he wanted it to.

"_Who says I've got anyone with me?"_Max suggested calmly as he motioned for the others to be quieter.

"Because we can clearly see that there are five of you on the damn screens we're looking at Max!" Booth yelled, his anger getting the better of him. Max sighed and immediately gave inaudible commands to the four others in the room. They all nodded and rushed out of the room, their guns at the ready. "But now you sent them away," Booth observed, more calmly after several deep breaths.

"_We need to hurry things up that's all_," stated Max.

"I understand what you're trying to do, what you're doing here. I understand _why_you need to get Zach, how he can help you. But there's something I _don't_understand in all of this," Booth began changing the subject. Maybe then they would get at least _some_ answers. "You act as though we're against each other but we're both trying to find answers, something which we are both lacking."

"_What's your point Booth?"_Max interrupted, wanting him to get straight to the point instead of adding all the extra emotions that didn't need to be dealt with right now. That he couldn't deal with right now.

"Do you know the truth?" asked Booth as calmly as he could.

"_Do I know the facts? Yes. Do I know the history of it all? Yes. Do I know the reasons? No. That's what we're trying to find out,"_revealed Max, speaking the most truth he had during the entire conversation.

"What if you're hurting her Max? What if all this is just harming her even more? She's not like you; she can't stay cooped up in where ever you're keeping her forever. She likes to help, to be involved, that's who she is. What if she gets hurt? Is this the best way to do it Max? For her, for your daughter?" But Booth didn't get a response, instead he just got the dial tone. Max had hung up on him.

Booth watched as he began to pace the floor. Hopefully, thinking about the questions Booth had given him to think about.

* * *

Another gunshot rang through the hallways as another security camera was cut off and destroyed. They paused momentarily as they watched it fall to the floor in front of them. Max had given them orders to get rid of as many cameras as they could and find Zach, while he kept the FBI talking.

"Let's split up, that way we can take out more of those," Charlie suggested as he pointed to the camera, which now laid in pieces.

"We'll also break pattern, they won't be able to follow us as well if we're taking out cameras in different areas, they won't know which way we're going," Tommy added.

"So it's settled then, we'll meet at Zach's door as soon as possible taking out the most cameras as we can along the way. Freddie you come with me, we'll go right. Tommy and Pete you two go left," Charlie instructed. They each agreed and split off in their intended directions.

~~  
Fifteen minutes later, Charlie and Freddie arrived outside Zach's door. Just as they had agreed, they had shot down any camera they had found or anything that looked remotely like one as they walked through the corridors. Fortunately, there had been no patients or guards or any other staff blocking their way, so there had been no glitches for them. However, Tommy and Pete hadn't been so lucky. A few minutes later, they both came running up to the door.

"Got into a little trouble," explained Tommy as they stopped. Pete stood and caught his breath while his father told them what happened; he wasn't used to this – running around almost empty corridors and having to take out anyone who tried to get in their way. "A few of the patients tried to be hero's by trying to stop up, that didn't work out so well for them. We took care of it."

"It was all caught on tape though, we didn't have chance to get it until afterwards," added Pete as soon as he got his breath back.

"That's fine, they won't be able to tell who you are. And _if_they do, we'll be long gone. Everybody will be safe," reassured Charlie.

"Now, for the hardest part of the plan... Trying to get a psych patient to come along with a group of strangers with guns," grinned Freddie. He, unlike his brother, loved what he was doing – on the run with his father, trying to stop the bad guys.

"Maybe not the hardest but it'll be difficult," chuckled Tommy.

After a brief moment of laughter, they all turned serious again and circled the door with their guns raised.

"Zach Addy, please move away from the door," Charlie warned, yelling so that it could be heard on the other side of the door – they didn't know how thick they were or if they were locked. But they were going to do everything they could to get in.

"I'm nowhere near the door, why would I be near it?" questioned a voice from inside the room. Before he got his answer, he heard a gunshot and watched as the door handle flew off and landed a few feet in front of him, the bullet that caused it all lying just beside it.

One by one, they each walked into the room lowering their guns as they saw that Zach was alone, shock evident on his face.

"You're those guys that are going round here looking for someone, looking for me," stated Zach, the shock vanishing quickly and was replaced with confusion and a million questions. "What do you want? Be warned, I'm here because I worked with a cannibalistic killer named Gormagon, I'm sure you've heard of him. It was all over the news," he announced, hoping that it would maybe scare them away a little bit. Instead they all just laughed.

"We know what you did kid," began Tommy. "Dr. Temperance Brennan sent us," he explained.

"I don't understand," he stated.

"Dr. Brennan, you're old mentor or whatever at the Jeffersonian, she needs your help so she sent us to come and get you, so that you could help her. Look it's too long to explain it all right here, so could you just trust us for a bit and we'll explain it all as soon as we can."

"Okay," he said as he quickly gathered some of his personal items that he wanted to take with him – mainly a group photo of everyone that had been taken at the Jeffersonian one Christmas, plus a few books that he wanted to show Brennan.

"Okay?" asked Freddie shocked that it had only taken them a few seconds too agreed.

"Yes, if you had simply stated that Dr. Brennan needed help then it would've agreed a lot quicker."

"Okay then, just follow us," Charlie instructed, still shocked at the little time it had taken them. Charlie and Freddie walked out of the room first so that they could lead and make sure there was nobody in front of them, while Tommy and Pete walked behind Zach to make sure that nobody snuck up on them as they walked back to where Max was.

"I'm not a killer you know, I never_actually_ killed anyone," he revealed as they walked down the corridor.

"What? I mean... You know what, I'm not even gonna ask," commentated Charlie as he lead the group.

* * *

**Thanks for reading... Don't forget to leave a review, pwetty pwease (: **

**~LittleMiss (:**


	15. Chapter 15

**I love half term holidays... I get sooo much writing done :L, which means i got another chapter written and it only took me 3 days! I feel proud of myself =D lol. I'm going to apologise now, I have no idea when i'll be able to get the next chapter written - school starts again on Monday and I still have all the homework which I 'forgot' about to do :/. I'll try my best though (: **

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Bones... I checked and checked :( **

*****Chapter Fifteen*****

Max was on the phone as they quietly re-entered the room one by one. He smiled, acknowledging their entry as they scattered around the room sitting down on anything that they could, apart from Zach who chose to linger in the doorway and observe what was happening. Max turned the phone on speaker and put the handset down so that they could all hear the conversation with Booth and Fletcher.

"_Max, we are outside right now, there is no__way out for any of you,"_Booth stated once again, for what seemed like the fifth time since they had called back five minutes ago. Max stayed quiet; he wasn't going to give them the reactions they wanted.

"There are some floor-plans of the building in them drawers over there," he whispered to the others, so that they couldn't hear down the line.

"We'll try and find something while you talk to them but there's still a camera in this room, they'll be able to see us," Charlie indicated as he retrieved the three separate rolls of paper from the bottom drawer and laid them on the table for everyone to see.

"They're not coming in here any time soon, trust me," promised Max. They all gathered around the desk, apart from Zach, so that they could try and find another escape route while Max went back to the telephone conversation.

"_We've surrounded the whole building Max, you won't find another exit,"_Booth repeated. Max sighed; things were going from bad to worse here, he just hoped that everything was okay back at the warehouse with Brennan.

"You've said that before Agent Booth, running out of things to say are we?" he taunted, faking a confidence that he no longer had.

"_Just making sure you know. We are outside but we can help you; we can make sure that you all get out of there perfectly safe,"_Booth assured him, hoping that it would convince them enough to go with the next part of his plan. Obviously he didn't know about the dead guards yet.

"And how would you propose to do that Agent Booth?" questioned Max.

"_I'm sure we could come up with some sort of conclusion Max, as long as you are_all_willing."_

"We've come up with nothing Max; they're blocking all the other exits. We're stuck in here at the moment, you might as well just see what they want, it couldn't hurt," Tommy whispered, so that the FBI wouldn't overhear them and give them the advantage. Max cursed under his breath; they were stuck.

"It all depends on what you want Booth," Max answered, going back to the phone. He nodded at the four other men around the table, signalling for them to stop and allowing them to contribute to the conversation if they wanted to – they needed to have the upper hand again.

"_We work together,"_began Booth. _"The FBI and whoever you're working with work together to solve this case; to help Tempe,"_Booth suggested.

Zach cautiously walked away from the door and over to where the floor-plans lay, as the other five men in the room burst into laughter at the FBI's suggestion. Freddie was the first of them to calm down enough to be able to talk.

"The Jeffersonian and the FBI are no-where near solving this case so how would you help _us_?" announced Freddie, confusing both Booth and Fletcher.

"_How do you that we're at a dead-end? What makes you so sure that we have no leads on this case?"_asked Booth.

"You've not just got a leak in the FBI Agent Booth," Freddie replied, a smug grin emerging on his face as Booth was left shocked. He stayed silent as he tried to process the information he had just been given; the Jeffersonian had a leak and none of them had even noticed.

"_And this leak__is__working for you? You control what he does and doesn't do?"_questioned Fletcher. In the office they now had five men to argue their point whereas they only had two; they couldn't afford to be wrong or lack confidence now.

"With us, he is one of us," confirmed Freddie.

"_So he's not at the Jeffersonian right now?"_

"Agent Booth, how do you propose we work together when we're wanted criminals?" Charlie announced changing the subject away from the leak and sitting back down on the set of drawers he had sat on earlier.

"_We'd work something out with..."_began Fletcher before being cut off by Booth whose patience was wearing out quickly.

"_Look this is your only option; there is no other way out. Either accept the deal and help us work this case or be arrested by many FBI agents and get taken to an interrogation room while this maniac carries on whatever he's doing with Tempe out there. And like you said, you're wanted criminals, what's the likelihood that you're going to get out any time soon?"_he threatened. _"Or you could tell us where she is, let her go and then we'll just let you walk out of here,"_he added as a last resort. He'd do anything to get her back, even let five wanted criminals go free.

"Agent Booth, Temperance isn't being held again her will," Max admitted, trying to stay as serious as possible but couldn't resist the small chuckle from escaping his lips at the accusation

"In fact, she took a nice long walk all by herself last night, well Zach was with her but I hardly think a five-year-old boy could keep her from _escaping_," added Charlie, recovering from the laughter once again.

Booth sighed; his Bones had willingly gone with her father to try to catch the killer herself, but why? That's all he wanted to know right now, why. The rest he didn't care about; he just wanted her back.

"_Booth, this confirms that Dr. Brennan was going to that warehouse. Don't we have enough for a warrant now?"_acknowledged Fletcher, just loud enough for them to hear down the line.

The laughter suddenly stopped and replaced by under-the-breath curses instead. It was time to get serious again; they knew where Brennan was. Max ended the call with the FBI; they needed to be able to talk freely for a while; to discuss their options.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they still had no idea what they were going to do. They were here, stuck in an empty office in the middle of a psychiatric clinic surrounded by the FBI while Brennan was in an abandoned warehouse with no idea what was going on. Freddie, Pete and Tommy had decided to look over the floor-plans once again to make sure that there was definitely no other way out while Charlie and Max discussed what they could do and how to get hold of Brennan.

All of a sudden, the phone Max had in his pocket began to ring; nobody had that number apart from Brennan and she had had strict instructions to only ring in an emergency. As he reached to check the caller ID, nervousness took over his stomach. Even when he saw that it was Brennan, the nervous feeling still didn't go away.

"Temperance?" he answered. As soon as the call had come in, Booth and Fletcher tapped it so that they could hear what was being said and hopefully trace the call.

"_What the hell happened Max? The break in is all over the news, they're saying that the FBI are about to go in and arrest the five men that broke-in in the early__hours__of the morning," _Brennan shouted down the phone, both worry and anger evident in her voice.

"Tempe, why are you calling? The phones could be tapped or even worse, they could trace the call," warned Max, he didn't want to let her know that the FBI could be getting a warrant anyway. He didn't want to worry her anymore than he had to, instead he'd think of something to get her out of the warehouse a different way.

"_I don't care, they're not going to find us anytime soon,"_she assured him. He heard things falling over in the background and the kids shouting instructions about what to do next to each other.

"Care to explain?"

"_We're leaving; it's too dangerous staying here now. There'll be nothing left when we leave, I promise,"_ she vowed.

"You planned this," he stated. Suddenly he wasn't so worried for his daughter, she had a better plan than they did right now.

"_Someone was following me last night; I didn't want to worry you too much. I don't know how much they know but its better this way, we've spent too much time here anyway,"_she explained, confirming his theory. She had planned it. Before they could ask where she was going, she had hung up the phone. At least she and the kids were safe.

Once again, the office phone began to ring; Booth and Fletcher wanted to talk to them again. Max sighed, he wasn't in the mood to talk to the FBI right now, instead he took a look at the floor-plans that were still laid out and chose to ignore the ringing phone. After the fifth ring, Charlie picked up the phone.

"Hello," he greeted.

"_This is your last chance, there is no way out for you; once this phone call has ended that's the last you'll be hearing from us until you get out. You can either join forces with us or go to jail," _stated Booth seriously, as calmly as he could. He couldn't afford to mess it up now, not when they had so little time left.

"We should already be in jail, Agent Booth," laughed Charlie. "Well most of us anyway."

"_We know where Brennan is but we're still going to offer you this deal. There is no other way out for you,"_ he repeated.

"I know a way out," announced Zach from where he stood. Charlie hung up the phone, so that they wouldn't hear their new escape route as they all turned to face him.

* * *

As they heard the dial tone, Booth grabbed for his gun and put it back in its holster as he stood up.

"Now we have enough for a warrant, call Caroline Julian she'll be able to get us one ASAP, tell her to meet us there," he ordered Fletcher as he rushed out of the van. "Meet me by the car in five minutes." Fletcher picked up the phone immediately too surprised at how Booth was acting to do anything other than what he said.

A crowd of policemen and reporters surrounded him as he left the van, all wanting the same thing; answers. Questions were yelled at him as he made his way forward to where the head police stood talking to the media about what was happening.

"Officer Dixon!" he yelled to get his attention. The officer excused himself from the press momentarily to speak with Booth who stood back from the crowds. "We know who they're communicating with on the outside and now we have a location, Agent Fletcher and I are going over there to try and stop them. Everyone else is going to be here but I'm leaving you in charge," he began to explain.

"Me? I'm not the FBI Agent Booth," Dixon stammered.

"I know you're not, but you are one of the best out here right now so I'm leaving you in charge. If they don't make movements from inside after five minutes, go in. What's left of the security cameras are in the van, maybe you can see which way they're going."

"Thank you Agent Booth," called Dixon, as Booth turned away to head back to the SUV where he was meeting Fletcher.

"Julian says she'll have the warrant in a few minutes and she'll meet us up there, told us to get a move on before she leaves the warehouse," notified Fletcher, just getting off of the phone as Booth arrived.

"I'll drive." They both climbed into the SUV and began the drive up to the warehouse, beeping the horn at anyone who stupidly got in their way.

* * *

Things were hectic back at the warehouse, jobs were being completed as quickly as possible and by whomever had nothing left to do. Brennan paused briefly to see what everyone was doing and to make sure that they were all okay. Dylan and Zach were pushing all of the boxes over; they had been left behind by the previous owner and only contained paper documents or old newspapers. Together they spread them around the room and even other parts of the warehouse nearby while Jess and James spread the gasoline that the older men had left behind trying to cover ever area possible. They needed the fire to spread as quickly and easily as possible and this was the best way for it. Brennan had packed up all of their documents into a small briefcase and put it safely away in the car earlier in the day just in case anything had happened. Now she packed up any of the pillows, small quilts and clothes that she could find – the larger items were being used to fuel the fire. Any other personal belongings that had been brought had been put in a box, which was now in the boot of the car ready for them to drive away with.

The children had begged her to take the TV with them, just in case there wasn't one where ever they were going next. However, it just hadn't fit in the car with them, especially since there were already five people sitting in the five-seated car.

"Aunt Tempe, we've just about run out of the gasoline, what do you want us to do next?" asked James as he threw the bottle he had in his hand into the corner where the other bottles lay.

"Get everyone in the car; we've just about finished here. I've packed everything we can fit in the car and I'm sure nothing will be left here with the great job that you've done," she instructed, handing him the keys so that he could get the car running while she quickly re-checked everything.

"Will do."

James gathered Dylan and Zach from the other room where they were still throwing paper around while Jess unlocked the car doors and started the engine.

"I can already hear the sirens!" exclaimed Dylan as he climbed into the backseat of the car and put his seatbelt on. Everyone stopped for a second as the sound grew louder and louder, causing them to rush. James climbed into the middle-backseat of the car, shutting the door behind him, and began to strap Zach into the car seat that they had kept. Jess sat in the front passenger seat and they waited for Brennan to climb in the car with them.

Brennan set a single match and threw it into the middle of the room before running out and closing the door behind her. They were leaving from the back of the building while the FBI would arrive at the front – they wouldn't meet up. As she climbed into the car and began to drive off, all four children turned in their seats to watch the warehouse, the _safe_ place, go up in large orange flames.

When they were at least ten minutes away, Brennan stopped the car at the opposite side of the road and retrieved her phone from the compartment just at the side of her, below the radio. All the children kept quiet, knowing there were only two people she would call right now. The person on the other end of the phone picked up immediately on the very first ring.

"_Bones?"_he asked, not sure if it was really her ringing him. They had arrived at what was left of the warehouse only minutes after Brennan and the children had left; the building was still in flames and they were just waiting for the fire brigade to come and put it out before they could go inside.

"Booth," she whispered. Even if they had the equipment to trace her call, they would only be able to tell where she was, not where she was heading; she'd be gone before they had even begun to follow her. "I'm sorry, I..."

"_This isn't your fault Bones, you are_not _to blame. Don't even think about blaming yourself,"_he warned. Brennan sighed, smiling slightly at Booth's over-protectiveness once again – how did he know that she wasn't to blame; he was only saying it to make her feel better. And she had to confess, that she instantly felt better the moment he had picked up the phone. _"Where are you? Just come home, please,"_he added.

"I have to do this Booth. Please don't make it any harder than it has to be, I just wanted to hear your voice again," she revealed making Booth smile even though he wanted to scream and shout and demand her to come home right away.

"_I know you do,"_he mumbled.

"I mean... There's not just me to think about anymore Booth! I have four children with me in this car, what would happen to them? What would happen to me?" she asked, all the emotions she had been able to lock away before were coming back to the surface at the sound of Booth's voice.

"_You have Pete's kids there too? Which means Pete was one of the other people with Max at the clinic, wasn't he? We can help you Bones, you'll all be fine, and you'll all be together,"_he promised.

"I can't Booth," she murmured, tears forming in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She needed to be strong in front of the others in the car. "Was... Was anyone hurt?"

"_I don't know Bones; no one has gone in yet. We're still waiting to enter the building,"_he answered as truthfully as he could, without making her more upset. _"The FBI isn't going in just yet. Me and another agent are up at the warehouse so we won't know anything until later. You were here weren't you, you set the fire."_

"Yes," she whispered. Booth hated to see or in this case hear her so upset, all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. He wanted her to tell him where she was so he could, but he knew that however much he begged and pleaded her she wasn't going to tell him anything.

"_Bones, just promise me something okay; don't get hurt... Whatever you do, stay safe,"_he pleaded. It was the only thing he could do now, he wasn't going to get her to come back anytime soon. Not with the killer still out there.

"I will," she promised. "I love you Booth," she said, barely above a whisper. Booth was just able to hear it with all the commotion going on around him and made him smile at those four words.

"_I love you too Bones, I'll see you soon,"_ he vowed. Simultaneously they hung up the phone, both happier that they'd been able to talk to each other but both disappointed at the lack of contact afterwards.

Brennan sent a short text message to Max briefly letting him know that they had gotten out okay and were heading to a safe place before turning it off and placing it back in the compartment it was in before.

"He was right you know, Booth I mean, everything is going to be okay," Jess reassured her, smiling up at the only motherly figure she had left in her life.

"I know," Brennan admitted, wiping the one stray tear that had fallen down her face. "Now, let's get back on the road," she said, with as much happiness as she could, trying to lighten the mood in the car. Jess turned on the radio on, turning the volume up high so that the music would drown out all the silence in the car.

* * *

Freddie shot down the camera in the office, they weren't going to let the FBI know there only way out – lip reading was now not an option for the agents now. Rather than telling them the way to go and giving them to directions on the map, Zach decided to let them follow him out of the psychiatric clinic. He led them to the other side of the clinic, the newer part. As they walked, patients moved out of their way, too scared to stop them or fight back. Like before, they shot down all the cameras that they found, however most of them were already in broken pieces on the floor from earlier.

They stopped when they came to a dead-end; all five men looked around confused.

"You sure we're in the right place kid?" asked Tommy as he looked around the empty corridor.

"I am quite sure," assured Zach. "There's a switch in the main office which releases all of the patients' doors," he began to explain. "When I release the switch all of the patients will be released into the corridors, if we tell some of them that they need to go to the entrance most of them will follow, creating a crowd of patients for the guards to get through before they can get to us."

"You've really thought about this then?" assumed Charlie.

"Occasionally," Zach entered the office to get to the switch, followed by Max while Freddie and Pete ran back down the corridor so that they could reach the patients when the doors were opened. Charlie and Tommy were left to wonder where they were heading next seeing as though they were stood at a dead end.

From where they stood, they heard a swarm of footprints stampeded through the corridors in the opposite direction to where they were. Pete and Freddie came running back, with smiles of achievement on their faces.

"Told them that if they all met at the entrance they could go on a special trip," explained Pete as they got closer.

"I doubt the FBI are going to be able to get in any time soon, especially since all the patients are now even more hyped up and ready to go to the beach!" laughed Freddie.

They all stood back in the corridor waiting for Zach to tell them where to go next. Max's phone buzzed, telling him that he had received a text message. A message from Brennan.

"Temperance is fine, they all got out safely," he told them as he read the message. All of a sudden, everything was going right for them once again; they were going to be fine.

"We just need to go through there and then the FBI will never be able to find us," Zach stated, pointing to the door of the supply closet. Again, they were all confused; where would a closet be able to lead them. However, they had been doing this long enough to know that escape routes could come in all strange forms.

Zach led them through the door and waited until they were all inside and the door was shut before he continued any further. They could barely fit in the small room but they just about managed it, as long as none of them moved about. Once they were all inside, he moved slightly to the left and pushed a shelf containing cleaning equipment to the side slightly but not enough for anyone else to notice. To their surprise, a small doorway opened as the shelf moved.

"If we go from here, we just need to follow a few corridors and we'll free," Zach said, proud of the fact that he could help the men get out. "Be careful there are a few steps that lead down to the first corridor," he warned, as he began to walk down them.

The others followed him down and the last one out, Tommy, shut the door as tightly as he could so that no one would know that they came down here.

"You sure about this?" asked Max, making sure that they were heading in the right direction before they began.

"I'm certain Max," he vowed.

"Okay then, you lead the way and we'll be right behind you," promised Max as he raised his gun, just to be prepared.

Sometime later, they walked up a final set of stairs leading into an empty room. They looked around to see if there were any clues as to where they were but the windows were blocked with what were supposedly curtains and boxes. Around the room were a few tables and old chairs, as well as various sized boxes.

"You know where we are?" asked Max as the last person climbed up the stairs and shut the hatch they had entered through.

"We're at a library, I used to come here when I got bored," Zach revealed.

"Where do we go from here then?"

"I don't know. I only ever stopped in the library, I never went outside, I didn't have the time; by the time I had chosen a book that I wanted I had to get back to the psychiatric clinic before they noticed I was missing." None of them asked any more questions; Zach was certainly not like them – like Brennan had said. They would've thought that if someone had the chance, they would've escaped the clinic as quickly as possible.

"Erm, okay... This is what we're going to do," began Max, he had no idea if it would work but it was the only way of getting out of the room. If the others had a better idea, he would gladly take it. "We'll go out in two's so that we're not alone but if we do get caught it won't be all of us; some of us – hopefully all of us – will be able to get back to Tempe."

"We'll get a taxi from various points to anywhere, but not to the same place. Wherever the taxi drops you off either get another taxi or somehow we can go to a communal place," added Charlie, motioning for Max to retrieve his phone from his pocket. "We also need to figure a way to contact Tempe, but she'll most likely have turned hers off seeing as the FBI has her number and they'll be able to trace it."

"Both of the twins have their mobile on them, I told them to have them on them at all times just in case," Pete informed them.

"You call one of them then, ask them where they're going," Max instructed, throwing his phone over to Pete.

Quickly he dialled Jess's number into the phone and pressed the call button. The FBI, to their knowledge, weren't tracking either of the phones they were using now. They were safe.

"_Hello?"_ Jess asked as she answered the phone, unsure of who would be calling her right now.

"Jess, it's me. Ask Aunt Tempe where you're heading please," he said getting straight to the point. They heard a brief conversation from down the line but couldn't hear any of it.

"_She says we're going to Billy's Barn and that you'd know what she means."_

"I know where it is. We'll see you later honey, I love you," he said, as he mouthed 'The Barn' to the others. Freddie instantly knew where it was, however the older men had no idea what it meant.

"_I love you too dad,"_Jess agreed as she hung up the phone.

"...We went there when we were kids." Freddie was explaining where 'The Barn' was to the others as Pete hung up the phone and passed it back to Max.

"You went to a pub as kids?" demanded both Tommy and Max, trying to keep their voices as quiet as possible.

"Not to drink!" exclaimed Freddie.

"It was just a place we used to hang out, in the back room!" exclaimed Pete. They felt like they were teenagers again, teenagers that had only just been caught being in a pub. "It was Billy's pub, everyone used to hang out there... It was cool."

"It was his dad's pub back then, his dad left it to him when his dad died a few years ago." Tommy and Max sighed, all this time they had never known their children 'hung out' in a bar. Charlie chuckled to himself remembering his childhood.

"Come on, you can tell them off later! We need to get going," laughed Charlie.

Tommy and Pete were first to leave the room then followed by Max and Zach a few minutes later. Freddie and Charlie glanced over the room making sure they had left no evidence behind before leaving themselves a few minutes later.

The librarian watched as the six people all left the library, as the last pair left she let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding and rushed for the phone.

* * *

**Thanks for reading... Please review =D **


	16. Chapter 16

**I'll start with an apology seeing as though it's been nearly a month since I last update... Sorry, life has been hectic with school and family and stuff - exams start in January so I've been doing mega loads of revision just so I can get a pass (: However, the next chapter is already written - I just need to read through it and then I'll post it, I promise - and the one after that is nearly finished as well so that should be up soon too (: After that, I have no idea when I'll have the time to write a full chapter - I usually just write sections at a time until it's finished - but I'll use all the free time I have :D **

**On another note, thanks for everyone who's stuck with the story - it's very much appreciated :D So, thanks XD **

*****Chapter Sixteen*****

Booth re-entered his office at the Hoover building just over an hour after he had talked to Brennan on the phone. Fletcher followed him in while on the phone to his partner who had been called out to the library. While they had been gone, Angela, Cam, and Hodgins had compiled a list of who could've been with Max during the break in.

"What happened at the clinic?" asked Hodgins as soon he had entered the room.

"We tried to negotiate with them, we mainly talked to Max, but I don't recognise the voices of the others that did talk. We left just before the FBI went in; we got a location on Brennan. I've been informed that the FBI could hardly get through the door, there was a crowd of patients all demanding to go to the _beach_. When they finally got inside, Max and the others were out of sight. So far, five have been confirmed dead and we don't know how many are injured."

"What about with Brennan, you said you had a location. Where is she?" questioned Angela frantically.

"She _was_at the warehouse, but by the time we had enough for a warrant she'd gone and the whole thing was up in flames. As we left the fire brigade was just making sure that it was safe to enter, the FBI are going through it now to look for any evidence that they may have left behind," he explained leaving out the part about Brennan calling him. It wasn't relevant to the case... Most of it wasn't anyway, and what was didn't give them any answers. He wanted to keep it just between him and Brennan; a moment that they shared. "Did you find anything?"

"We made a list of who _could_have been there, but we've got no actual proof," Cam admitted as she handed Booth a file of records they had gathered. Booth took a quick look through the files, most of them were criminal records, but a few were records from the foster system of people who were with Brennan when she spent some time in it.

"My partner, Agent Foster, is at a library in the middle of town near the clinic. The librarian there says that they walked through her library half an hour ago; they did nothing, they just left. She didn't even see them enter. She's with a sketch artist now."

A woman in her late twenties walked into Booth's office. The squints had never seen her before. However, both Fletcher and Booth knew who it was already.

"Cam, Angela, Hodgins, this is Agent Laura Foster, she's Fetchers partner," Booth introduced briefly. "Foster, these are the Jeffersonian squints."

"It's finally good to meet you, the whole office has heard about the Jeffersonian Squints," laughed Foster, shaking each of their hands formally. "The librarian was in a real state when we got there, she thought that they would 'come back for her' if they knew she had told the FBI that they were there. We finally got her to calm down enough to talk to the sketch artist. Fortunately for us, none of them wore masks as they walked through the building."

"Did she get a good look at all five of the men?" asked Cam, hoping that they would be able to get an ID on all of the men that had been there.

"She was able to give sketches for two of the men..." she began, before being cut off by Angela who was still upset that her friend was missing.

"Only two?" she exclaimed.

"Yes, she was able to identify the other three men on her own and we showed her Zach's picture from his file and she confirmed that he was with them."

"Who were the men?"

"She confirms that one of the men there was Max Keenan which we already knew and she also says that Tom Edwards and Charlie Jones were there. These are the sketches that she described," she said as she handed Booth a file with the pictures included.

Under normal circumstances, they might have been shocked that Brennan was with wanted murderers but since her father was involved, they weren't surprised that he had brought in people he knew. People who he trusted. People who were already in the criminal business.

"That's Pete Edwards, he's Tommy's son," Booth pointed out, holding up the sketch that resembled Pete. "I don't know about the other one though but he's probably got some relation to them." He passed the remaining sketch to the squints; maybe they knew who he was.

"That's a security guard from the Jeffersonian," acknowledged Hodgins as he took a closer look at the sketch. "I've talked to him every morning since he got the job a few days ago. He seemed quite friendly and upbeat; he usually stands at the entrance or wanders around the platform. He's called... erm... Aiden...something."

"Aiden Fahrling," Cam added. "That's probably not his real name though, he was only hired recently; a few days after we got this case."

"Angela, would you be able to get an ID from the sketch we have of him?" asked Booth.

"Sure, I could start running it back at the lab but everyone is connected in some way right? He's got to be related to one of the others in some way. From the underlying bone structure he looks related to Pete, but I couldn't be sure," she explained.

"Search whatever you think will be best," he insisted, pointing towards his computer.

"What I still don't understand; is why they need Zach in the first place," Fletcher said, as he sat down in one of the chairs in the office.

"They're serious about the case; all of them – even Brennan – want to solve it on their own, without any help. I don't know why yet, but there are things that they don't want people to know yet. They broke Zach out because he was the best grad student Brennan had, he's there to help them. They're expecting more bodies," he explained.

* * *

Thankfully, they all arrived at 'The Barn' safely and without anyone being caught or seen. Brennan was the first to arrive with the children and had already explained to Billy what situation they were in. Fortunately, Billy had kept in touch with Freddie and knew who his father was and what he did. He had said that he would let them stay in a small-unused room in the basement of the pub without any interference from anyone.

The others still hadn't arrived yet when Brennan decided it would be best if they got set up in the basement. They would be able to have everything ready and any one in the bar wouldn't notice them. Billy showed them down to the room they would be staying in – it was the same room they had all sat in years back, when they were children.

"Thank you Billy, I appreciate everything that you are doing for us. However, could I make another request?"

"Anything for you, you helped me a lot when we were kids Temperance," he said warmly.

"Would you buy us some more clothes and some essentials? We brought what we could, but I don't think we've got enough for the time we're going to spend here. Of course we'll pay you when it's all over, but right now it'd be less conspicuous for us."

"I'll fetch you some when I do the grocery shopping tomorrow."

"Thanks Billy."

As they waited, the boys helped Billy fetch spare mattresses and airbeds from the attic as well as some extra quilts and pillows. Brennan and Jess brought everything that had been packed from the car and into the room that was now their _safe_ house. Now, they would all have to lay-low until it was over. The likelihood of Freddie and Pete being identified from the security tapes at the clinic were high, they couldn't risk staying in the outside world for much longer. Not with the FBI trying to find every link they could about the case – trying to solve it without them. And as for the children, it wasn't safe enough for them to go to school either. Not only could the FBI find out about it and take them but the murderer(s) could also take them from school.

Freddie and Charlie arrived back at 'The Barn' first. Freddie helped Brennan and Jess set out the mattresses and blew up the airbeds that had been brought down so that they could get everything set up quickly. Billy left the boys to bring down the last of the stuff while he talked to Charlie.

"Just remember Billy that while Freddie, Pete and Tempe may trust you us older men don't. We've had too many bad experiences to trust anyone. The minute... No the second you go against us and tell _anybody_ that we're here, it'll be the last thing you'll ever say," Charlie warned. All Billy could do was nod and run back up the stairs, back to the bar. Brennan laughed at the scene she had just witnessed and all of a sudden she felt like they really were in another safe house.

An hour later, everything was set up and everyone had arrived back safely. Max had told Zach everything that had happened on their way to the pub, trying to remember all of the terminology Brennan had used but failing. Instead, he had promised that he could look at all of their documents when they got back.

"So we all agree, we'll just stay here for a while and lay low while all this blows over. We'll settle down and just _chill_," Charlie stated. "Our FBI informant is still in place... unlike our Jeffersonian informant," he laughed, looking over at where Freddie sat. "So we'll still know if a new body is found."

"Hey! It's not my fault I can't go back," exclaimed Freddie, defending himself. "We'll just have to find some other way of getting the information we need."

**

* * *

*Five Days Later***

Back at the Jeffersonian, they were all sitting around Brennan's office with the case files scattered on the table in the centre. They had discovered the real identity of the security guard a few hours after they had received the sketch once Angela had gone back to the lab. As suspected, he was a relation to all of the others; Frederick Edwards – Youngest son to Tommy Edwards. He had been hired by the Jeffersonian as a guard for the lab only days after Booth had brought them the case just like Cam had said. The previous guard had taken an indefinite leave for personal reasons and they were still trying to locate him at the FBI. Currently, they were just looking over all of the evidence, which they had collected but nothing new was being found and they needed new evidence to come in, to give them a new lead and as bad as it sounded, they wanted another body to appear.

Booth got more and more agitated as time went by, he desperately wanted to talk to Brennan again. The second after he had hung up on the phone he wanted to hear her voice again. He had tried to ring her on all of the numbers he knew she had, leaving numerous messages but he never got a response. However, his hope never faltered and he continued to ring the same number.

Angela, Cam, Hodgins and even Sweets were getting worried. He had tried to hide it, and still did, but they knew why he kept leaving the room. Who he kept making secret phone calls to. They also knew that she hadn't yet answered one of them and wasn't going to anytime soon; she had all the phones they knew about turned off. They were tracking them. Booth re-entered the room after leaving another message on Brennan's phone that would go unheard and unanswered. They needed to do something about it.

"Booth, this isn't healthy," began Cam, hardly giving him chance to walk back to where they were in the room and sit down. Booth looked at them confused but he knew exactly what they were talking about.

"Booth, you need to talk to us," Sweets added. He had a good heart and good intentions but he really did talk abruptly.

"What he means Booth, is that you can talk to us whenever you need to, we'll be here. We understand that you miss her but you can't really believe that she's going to answer your calls, do you?" Angela rephrased, standing in front of where Booth stood.

"It just helps," he mumbled in response. He didn't want to have this conversation yet, he didn't really want to have it at all but he knew it was coming.

"It's not healthy Booth," repeated Cam.

"I know," he muttered, feeling it was the only thing he trusted himself to say without breaking down and telling them everything.

"Booth, you really can't think she'll call you. They're in too deep, they're serious about this. They won't ruin everything again, no matter what her feelings are," Hodgins pointed out. "She won't do it."

"She did though!" announced Booth, shocking everyone in the room, including himself – he hadn't meant to announce it at all; he had wanted to keep it a secret between him and Bones. A series of concerned and shocked "what's" followed by all of the others in the room. "She called me the day of the break in, just after I arrived at the warehouse. She had just left there, she was the one who had started the fire, it was all part of their plan – hers anyway. She was on the run with the kids; they were in the car with her. She promised... that... she promised to talk to me as soon... as soon as she could. She promised to stay safe."

"She...she... she actually called you?" stuttered Angela, the only one actually able to speak.

"Yeah," he restated, just as shocked as they were now. He remembered the entire conversation between the two of them – she had said 'I love you' to him and she had said it _first_.

"And she's fine? She's safe?" asked Angela.

"She says that she is. She wants to come back – she wants to be here, with us – but she also wants to find out what's happening and get it all sorted out before she comes back. But she misses you all," clarified Booth.

"As long as she's safe," bargained Hodgins.

"Yeah, as long as she's safe."

* * *

Everyone was still at the pub. Still holed up in the small place they now called their safe house; the eleven of them were cramped up in a small room just next to the main basement of the pub where everything for the bar was kept. They had arranged it a little better for them to work with but it was still a tight squeeze. However, none of them were going to complain any time soon, they were safely hidden away from the rest of the world – the FBI had no idea where they were – and they had an unlimited supply of alcohol (as well as others drinks for the kids) and food right next door. Billy had told them to help themselves to whatever they needed. He had also brought them some clothes in various sizes and the essentials; he had also given them a spare TV linked up to his satellite with the promise that they would keep the volume low and only play it when it was busy in the bar upstairs so that it couldn't be heard. He had also brought them some toys for the younger boys and a range of books, which would give them all something to read if they wanted to.

On one side of the room laid all of the mattresses; Max, Charlie and Tommy all had a single mattress of their own whereas the rest were doubles – Brennan shared with Zach, Pete with Dylan and the twins shared another. At this side of the room, Brennan and Pete sat with all of the children trying their hardest to teach them something even if they just sat and read a book together or explained something to them – for Brennan it was science and for Pete it was maths. They were doing the best that they could in the situation that they were in – they couldn't let them go to school, not with the FBI after them or the murderer seeming to be one step ahead of them.

Earlier in the day, Brennan, with the help of Zach, was explaining parts of the body and their functions to Jess and James while Pete had done some simple addition and subtraction with the youngest two children. Today was just going to be like every other day since the break in – keeping quiet and pretending not to be there.

Across the room, there were a few old chairs and a worn out three-seated sofa around an uneven coffee table that Billy had brought out of storage for them yesterday. Once again, Max, Charlie, Tommy and Freddie had discussed all of the evidence that they had found and their list of suspects even though they had been through it what seemed like a million times in the five days they had been there.

It was just past eleven when they had finally gotten Dylan and Zach to fall to sleep in their respective 'beds'. Jess and James were sat on theirs watching the small TV listening in to the conversation that the adults were having on the other side of the room.

"I know we've already been here for five days, but I don't know how well we can trust this Billy person. I know you knew him from your childhood, but how well do we actually know him. Can we trust him enough not to eventually turn to the Feds?" acknowledged Charlie in a hushed voice, so that no one would be able to hear them even if they were on the other side of the locked door.

"We might have to be on the lookout for somewhere new, somewhere more permanent than both here and the warehouse," added Max.

"I agree, I knew Billy when I was a kid but right now he just creeps me out," admitted Brennan, shuddering.

"He was creepy when we were kids too," added Freddie, laughing slightly. "Where and what do you want us to be looking for? Old barns? Another warehouse? Basements? Actual houses?" he asked.

"Anywhere that's safe and still near to DC," began Charlie.

"Do you think they're actually watching over the houses," asked Tommy out of the blue, meaning both Pete's and Brennan's house that were currently unoccupied.

"I have no idea, but it's not like we could actually check, is it? Or could we?" Freddie questioned, as he took a sip from his can of beer he had been holding.

"It's risky, the Fed's will most likely catch us, but it's worth a shot. At least then we'll know what they're doing, maybe we can get some more information out of them while they've got us."

"It'd be pointless if we all go, just to get caught. Especially since the probability of us getting back out again anytime soon would be, slim – just like Booth said the other day. We're wanted criminals Charlie," Max pointed out.

"Then one of us should just go," began Pete. "Think about it, it has to be either me or Tempe 'cause it's our houses' and it'd just look strange if it was anyone else. We could just say that we were nipping to pick up some things and act real sneaky trying to get into the place without anyone noticing. But, it's too risky sending Tempe, we don't know what this psycho is up to and if the Fed's catch her they're never gonna let her go, just like they wouldn't let any of you go."

"What you getting to son?" asked Tommy, interested in his eldest son's proposition. He didn't like the sound of sending one of his son's just to get arrested by the cops but if it was going to help they might as well try it.

"I'll go," he insisted. "It's the only thing I'm useful for, it's not like I can do anything else around here."

"You sure Pete?" asked Brennan, smiling at him from where she sat. Everyone in this room was willing to help her whatever the cost, they were here for _her_. And back at the Jeffersonian, there were people who were missing her and trying to find her to bring her back home. She smiled to herself, suddenly overwhelmed by the amount of love that she felt. It felt foreign, but nice.

"Yeah, just as long as you look after the kids for me. As long as they're protected, I'm willing to do it."

"Pete, we'll keep them safe, I promise," vowed Brennan, trying to imagine the pain of leaving her child behind even if it was only for a short amount of time. Even though she had left Zach in the care of Rachel and Andy for the first part of his life, she didn't know how she would ever be able to give him away again. She wouldn't, after this, they were going to live together as the happy family they should've been right from the beginning.

"Yeah, bro, we're not gonna let anything happen to those three awesome kids you have over there. They're too precious," Freddie added with a big goofy grin to lighten the mood.

"So that's sorted then, thank you Pete," noted Max. "We'll use it as a decoy, when we need it. But for now we'll stay here, carrying on what we have been doing for the past five days."

"A decoy?" asked Freddie, who was just as confused as both Pete and Brennan.

"Yep, Pete, you can walk up to you house – trying not to be seen by anyone but obviously try and get the FBI to see you, if they're there – and just walk in. _If_ the FBI are there, they'll try and arrest you ASAP so they'll come after you. Run out the back door and just carry on running until you either get away or they catch you."

"Either way is fine. If they catch you, just go with them answer the questions and we'll get you back as quickly as we can, I promise," added Tommy, boosting his sons confidence as he saw the worried look on his face at the idea of being caught.

"They'll be more focussed on _catching_you than on us – you'll be there newest lead on the case, they won't be as focussed looking for any more if they've got you. They'll be less focussed on us."

"So it's a decoy," clarified Freddie, nodding, as he understood it all.

"You mean for when another body is found?" Brennan predicted. That's all the seemed to be doing, waiting for another body to be found and wondering what the FBI were up to.

**Thanks for reading, please review to tell me what you think (: Even if it's really really short, it's still greatly welcomed :D **

**~littlemiss :D **


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviews my last chapters (: I was going to post this yesterday but it snowed so i decided to make a snowman and have a snowball fight instead lol. Two people reviewed last time anonymously so I'll just spend 2 minutes thanking them here (: GirlProto: Thanks, more action coming shortly in the next chapters (chapter 19 definitely) :D. Julia: Thank you, description is a strong point for me I think but I always thinks it's too much, I always go a little OTT which is why I probably add too many characters lol. Thanks again to both of you :D**

**Again, I've already written the next chapter so I'll post that soon _and_ I've got the rest of the week off of school because the snow around here is really bad :P I've got to do a little bit of revision while I'm off but I'll also write some more (as well as a few snowball fights ;) lol). **

*****Chapter Seventeen*****

Another body had been found.

That's why Pete was walking down the familiar street towards his house. They had gotten the call only a few minutes ago but they had acted quickly. The informant was still in place and letting them know everything that was called in before letting the FBI know. They only had a small amount of time to do what they needed to do, but hopefully with Pete acting as a decoy they would get more time. They had left the kids at the pub in the care of Freddie while the others had set off in the car on the way to the crime scenes – they had packed the car ready of gloves, water and bags a few days ago so that they would be ready whenever they got the call.

Pete had took a taxi and had it drop him off just a block away from his house so that it would look as though he walked – giving them no suspicions just yet. It was only 3 am but as he walked down the street, he noticed two people sat in a silver unmarked car and another two people stood just up the street _hidden_ behind a bunch of trees which lead of the park. They were FBI. Sent to watch over his house while he was _missing_, waiting for someone to go to the door.

As he neared his house, he saw one of the men in the car take out a cell phone and call someone – probably the FBI headquarters to tell them that he was going home. He walked up his driveway as though it was a regular day, at a regular time and had seen nothing and entered his house. He kicked the post to one side, deciding that he didn't have to bother with all the bills and the junk mail just yet. He stumbled into the kitchen, tripping over a random toy that hadn't been tidied away when they had left the house. He picked up the house phone out of the cradle that it was in and dialled the number to Max's cell phone that they had turned on just this morning.

"_Yeah?"_Tommy answered, glad that his son had made it to the house all right with no complications.

"I'm at the house obviously, but I've got company outside. From what I can tell, there are four FBI agents outside on the street, not very well hidden."

"_That's law enforcement for you,"_laughed Tommy. _"Just remember what we said and you'll be fine."_

Pete was about to say something back when he was interrupted by a knock at the door – the Fed's were outside his house.

"I've got to go dad, the FBI are at my door. I'll see you soon hopefully."

"_Good luck son,"_said Tommy as he hung up the phone.

Pete put the phone back in its cradle on the side slowly as he looked around the room. They had discussed every possibility that could happen and what he should do but he wasn't any less nervous. He peeked through the kitchen window curtain to look into his backyard – nobody was there, they were just at the front. He unlocked the back door just to be ready for when they came running in. This was the first stage of the plan. Quickly, he rushed over to the counter and pushed the microwave onto the floor creating as much noise as possible. He had left all of the doors open so that he could see the front door. Just as he ran out the back door, the FBI barged into the front – guns raised.

Pete ran through the garden, crashing through the garden gate, leaving it in pieces, and entered the woods which began just at the back of his house. He looked over his shoulder briefly as he carried on running and saw six agents running after him – they must've been calling in for back up when he saw them on the phone. The only person he recognised out of the six of them was Booth, the other man that had been sat in the car. Unbeknownst to them, it had actually been his shift to keep watch on the house that night.

He carried on running, trying to avoid every tree and branch that got in his way. Occasionally, a flimsy twig snapped against his face or his chest but the sting only lasted a moment – it'd probably hurt more when he stopped running.

"Pete Edwards! FBI! Stop running, we just need to ask you a few questions," he heard one of them yell. He turned to glance behind him to see where they were and what they were doing. All six of them had their guns raised, pointing at him. The uneasiness he felt earlier suddenly grew in his stomach; they'd never talked about guns. As he turned his head to look in front of him once again, he missed a tree root buried deep into the soil, covered by a mountain of leaves. As he fell forward into the soil he prayed that his children would be kept safe – he was going to be taking a trip to the FBI.

The six agents circled in around him in the time it took him to fall. Slowly and cautiously, he began to raise himself up off the floor with him hands raised.

"Well this seems familiar – only last time, there were a few walls separating us," he joked, once he was stood up fully. "Look, I'm not gonna run again so you can all lower your guns – getting shot isn't something I wanted to do today."

"Why did you run then?"

"Because six guys with guns were barging into my house and I didn't want to just stand there without a gun while they pointed theirs at me!" he exclaimed.

"Mr. Edwards, we're going to have to take you in to ask you a few questions," explained one of the agents stood on his right.

"I kinda gathered that when you started chasing me."

"Pete, I'm sorry we have to do this, it's just a routine questioning that's all," Booth promised as he walked forward putting his gun back in its holster and drawing out a pair of handcuffs.

"You're not sorry, it's your job. But that doesn't matter, it was all part of the plan," he mumbled as Booth handcuffed his hands behind his back and started walking him forward. The rest of the agents put their guns away and walked along side him, however, their hands still lingered over the holster just in case anything were to happen.

Booth walked him back through the woods, constantly keeping one hand on Pete's cuffed hands and another on his shoulder. As they entered his garden through the hole which used to be his gate, Pete noticed that only two other agents were with them now – the other three had gone ahead to get back to the Hoover Building. Kindly, the two agents put the garden bench in front of the hole – it wouldn't do much but it was the thought that counted. They also locked the back door once they were all inside the kitchen.

"It was time I bought a new microwave anyway, that one wasn't cooking the food properly," commented Pete as he saw the smashed appliance on the floor. "There's a nice one I saw recently while I was out shopping, but I really cannot remember the name of the store."

Booth chuckled at Pete talking about microwaves when no one was actually listening. That's what he liked about him, he was actually a funny guy when you got to know him and honest. Brennan trusted him – that's what mattered the most. The thought of his Bones made his heart feel heavy. He missed her every day. Some days were better than others, but most of the time just the mention of her name would give him butterflies and heartache.

"Is she safe?" he whispered into Pete's ear so that only he could hear as they walked over to the car where the other agent was waiting – the other was behind them, locking up the house. Pete gave a small nod of his head in response, giving Booth a wide grin on his face.

Pete climbed into the car, Booth following in after him. The two other agents got into the front two seats of the car and they drove off towards the Hoover Building.

* * *

Just as Pete had begun to walk down his street, Brennan, Zach, Max, Tommy and Charlie arrived at the crime scene. As soon as they arrived, they sprang into action, doing their respected roles, only stopping momentarily to take in the entire scene around them. It was just like the previous ones they had visited; the body on fire in the middle – the first thing that you would see – and a manmade pathway that the killer had made which lead to the circle of paint. The people who had found the body cowered away from the scene with their backs turned, too afraid to take the sight in once again. Not that any of them blamed them; all of them would rather be anywhere but here at that moment. It would be even better if there was a body as well, but that wasn't the case, and right now they needed to focus on what they needed to do in the short timeframe that they had.

Charlie was to deal with the two hikers while the rest began.

"Hey!" he yelled as he approached the two of them, causing them to jump at his voice but refused to turn around. Instead, Charlie stood in front of them, fear evident in their eyes. Fear of the unknown. Deep down he felt sorry for the pair, but right now he needed to intimidate them. He needed them to what he was about to tell them to do. He couldn't do anything to help their fear.

"We... we didn't... we didn't do anything w... wrong," stuttered the man, pushing the woman he was with behind him as if to protect her. The woman pressed her head into the man's shoulder, not wanting to see anymore than she had, wishing she had never agreed to come on the hike in the first place.

"Did I say you did?" he pointed out, lowering the volume of his voice so that it wouldn't be heard from people if they were in the surrounding area. "What I am going to say is this and you need to listen very carefully, understand?" he questioned. He waited until they gave a slight nervous nod of their head before continuing. "You are going to go and sit in that car over there," he began, pointing to the car they had just got out of. "And I am going to lock the door so that you can't get out. Then, once we're done here, I'll let the both of you out and you'll wait for the FBI to get here," he said slowly, so that they would hear everything that he had just told them.

"We... we understand," the man agreed, still physically shaking from the nerves. As long as neither of them would get hurt, he was going to do whatever he said. To make sure they stayed safe.

"Good. When the FBI get here you're not going to say anything to them, okay, you're going to pretend that we were never here."

"We will," he promised, with slightly more confidence now that he knew they were going to be safe.

Charlie motioned for them to follow him to the car, which they did. Once inside, they heard the soft click as all four doors locked, just like he had said he would do. Charlie sighed as he walked away, shaking his head. They always said they weren't going to saying anything to the FBI, but they always did. At least it would make a good bet with someone. He grabbed the camera, which Tommy had placed next to the now empty bottle of water and walked over to where Brennan and Zach were knelt.

Tommy circled the crime scene once again, the one still clutched in his hand just in case; they were still waiting for a call from Pete which was going to happen any time at all. Because he was the one waiting for the phone call, they had decided that this time he could be the one to be on lookout. To make sure that everything was going to plan and that no one was watching them. He gave Charlie the thumbs up as the phone began to ring in his hand and he walked to where the parked car stood.

With the camera in his hand, Charlie took several pictures of the body that Brennan and Zach were currently crouched beside. With the help of Zach, Max had poured the bottles of water over the body, eventually putting out the fire that had left the body burnt to a crisp – just like all of the others. The minute Zach had seen the body he had been shocked even though he had looked over their file of evidence countless times to try and get a grasp on what was happening. He hadn't actually thought it was as bad as they had said it was. He was astonished at the state the body had been left in, and the fact that it was only a kid just made it even worse.

"Zach, just look at the facts, that's all we need right now," Brennan advised as she saw his uneasiness.

"I know Dr. Brennan, it's just that... it's a kid and... it's just hard. It's got to be even harder on you though, from what I've heard _and_ read, they were like family to you," he observed. Brennan smiled at the man she once, and still did, consider to be her greatest grad student; most of the time he was blunt and truthful, just like her, but others, he showed himself and his true feelings a little bit more.

"It's just how the world works Zach; it's not fair."

"You found anything Tempe, we've not got long left here," Charlie noted as he took a few more pictures of the body and the area around it.

"We decided to split our time wisely, I was looking for cause of death while Zach looked for anything to use for identification. From what I have seen, I'd say it's the same M.O as last time. The body was stabbed at least four times and probably cause of death was caused by the 9mm in the head – if we're sticking with the M.O then it's most likely a gunshot," explained Brennan. She pointed to all of the different wounds that she had found so that Charlie could take a quick picture for future reference, not understanding a word she was actually saying. All he got was that the body was stabbed and shot.

"The pelvic bone shows that the victim is female," Zach carried on. "Approximately nine to thirteen years old."

"Fifteen too old?" asked Brennan, they only had two options left to who it could be, given that the body was female.

"Definitely."

"It's Ellie," sighed Brennan. Eleven year old Elizabeth Kent's bones were lying in front of them. Charlie pulled her hand to help her stand up, her eyes still lingering on the little girls' body.

"There's nothing you could've done," he whispered into her ear reassuringly. All she could do was tear her eyes away from the body and nod her head as Charlie pulled her into a one armed hug.

Max walked over to them a few moments later, with only the camera he had gone with in his hand. Brennan immediately thought of the worst; the killer hadn't left the crime scene there was no red circle this time – he had changed. Or maybe they had got it all wrong, maybe they had used what they knew and applied it to what they thought. Maybe they were wrong about it being Ellie, maybe it was just some other murder with a similar M.O. Maybe it was a copycat. Maybe _she_was wrong.

"I found it again, I found another teddy in _another_ red circle again," Max revealed as it got close enough for them to hear him without having to shout. Brennan sighed in relief at his words but some of the doubts still didn't go away, the doubts and the worries that always lingered in the back of her mind were still there and slowly creeping their way forward.

"What, what did it look like? The teddy I mean?" asked Brennan trying to act as normal as she could so they wouldn't notice that anything was bothering her.

"It was a pink bear, the right arm had to be stitched back on I think – that's what it looked like happened anyway. I've got a picture of it on the camera which you can look at to confirm. It's all I found that far out anyway, just the paint and the teddy. You get anything more around here?"

"Nah, Tempe and Zach got what they could from the body; they think... I mean, from the evidence they have collected they believe it to be the body of Elizabeth Kent with the same C.O.D as the other four bodies," Max explained, winking at Brennan as he avoided using the word 'think'. They all knew that she felt bad that she, herself, couldn't get the exact results.

"He's got to slip up somewhere, they always do," announced Tommy as he strode over to where the rest of them stood, at the foot of the body. He had overheard the whole conversation while he was on the look-out. "The FBI was outside Pete's house, he hung up when they knocked on his front door. I don't know what situation he's in now but we need to get going before they turn up here," he advised.

"He'll be fine Tommy, he's strong," Brennan assured as they all turned and headed back for the car. Tommy smiled at the woman who he saw as his own family and nodded, a silent thank you passing between the pair.

"Dr. Brennan!" shouted Zach who had fallen behind the group. "I think... I think that I've..."

"Hurry up kid; we don't wanna be here when the feds show up. I don't think you'll be going back to your nice room at the psych clinic now," Charlie said, not turning round to face him. Instead, he carried on walking.

"We might be able to make up some story that we kidnapped him and forced him to help us," laughed Max.

"That'd never work, they know Zach too well. They know he would help us out without hesitation," argued Brennan. _But I wouldn't have it any other way,_she thought to herself smiling.

Zach shoved the thing he was holding into his pocket and ran to catch up with them. He really didn't want to be here when the feds turned up; instead, he would show them what he had found later when they returned back to the pub. When they were safe.

* * *

Booth watched from the opposite side of the glass as Fletcher stormed out of the room and Pete continued to stare at the wall in silence, just like he had been doing ever since they had brought him in. Fletcher slammed the door open as he entered the observation room.

"It's only been five minutes Fletch, calm down a little and remember who his father is – he's got to have learnt something from his old man," Booth assured him before he could even begin to complain. "This one is gonna be a hard one to crack."

"I know, I know, but it's just so annoying," he admitted, chuckling to himself at his own behaviour. "He's not gonna talk to me, but he knows you, maybe he'll talk to you."

"That's exactly why I can't Fletch, I know him," Booth sighed.

"Then we'll make something up, you've only actually met him once. We only want to talk to him and you're most likely the only one he will talk to. Hell, it's not like we're taking him to court, are we?" suggested Fletcher, he really didn't want to go back in that room. Five minutes was bad enough.

"I honestly don't know, but right now we're only asking a few questions. I'll talk to him," agreed Booth as he left the observation room, hearing Fletcher shout a quick 'thank you' in his direction.

Booth entered the interrogation room to find Pete still staring at the wall; he hadn't even looked up when he walked into the room. Booth sat down in the chair opposite to the one Pete sat in, only a small metal table separating them.

"Hey, this isn't anything too formal; we just want a few answers and hopefully you can give them to us," Booth explained, he wasn't going to take into account that Pete was at the psychiatric clinic right now, that could wait. For the first time since they had arrived, Pete stopped staring and looked Booth straight in the eye.

"What makes you sure that I can answer them? I'm the useless one in the group, that's why I'm here right now. I haven't got any answers for you, Agent Booth," he admitted. Booth saw honesty in his eyes but the smirk emerging on his face told him that there was something more.

"Why were you going home Pete?" asked Booth, ignoring his previous statement; he wasn't here to play games with him.

"Can't a man go home any more without being arrested?" Pete grinned. However, once he saw Booth's serious face, he lost the grin; things weren't going to be so jokey. "Look Booth, I was just getting a few things for the kids – it's been hard for them but they're good kids so I promised them that I'd have a surprise for them when they woke up in the morning." It wasn't a lie – he had promised the kids that he'd try and bring something from home if he could the night before – but it wasn't the truth either.

"So where are the kids now? They with Tempe again?"

"Tempe's more than just a babysitter Agent Booth. But _all_ the kids are safe, they're with someone I've trusted all of my life," Pete answered, checking his watch to clarify the time. They would be leaving the crime scene any time at all, if they hadn't all ready. His job was done.

"Where are they? Everyone else I mean?"

"They're _out_, they needed some fresh air just like I did, but I think they're going to be heading back soon," he vaguely explained. Booth sighed; he wasn't expecting him to talk at all but even now that he was he was giving them irrelevant information. He was getting their hopes up by talking but not giving the information they wanted or needed – he was good.

"You mentioned a plan earlier when we were bringing you in, care to elaborate on that?"

"It was my plan," he boasted, a smiling forming on his face. "I thought of it all, well most of it. I was the decoy."

"The decoy?" asked Booth, unconsciously getting his hopes up once again. "Decoy for what Pete? Have they found a new lead?"

"Maybe."

"Please, just give us something. Anything at all, that _you_think will help us."

"She misses you," he stated simply, both knowing exactly who he was talking about.

"Pete, don't go there. As long as I know she's safe," he said, repeating what Hodgins had told him. The same thing he had been repeating to himself since he had heard it. To keep him sane.

"I'll let her know you miss her too," Pete promised even though Booth had never asked; he knew how much it hurt when you couldn't be with the person that you loved.

"Pete, the FBI can..." he began before being cut off by Pete.

"There's no point in threatening me Booth, we had everything planned out just in case something happened, just in case we needed a decoy. Everything is going to plan, today we needed a decoy. My kids are safe and that's all I care about."

"Just something, please," asked Booth, almost begging but not allowing himself to stoop that low. Before Pete said anything, he checked his watch once again for about thirty seconds – as if waiting for a right time to speak. Booth grew impatient, it was one of the longest thirty seconds he had waited, and was about to say something or get angry when Pete spoke.

"We got a call about another body, that's where they went but they've probably gone by now. It was in some woods in D.C, that's all I know I swear," explained Pete, barely above a whisper but staring Booth straight in the eye.

"Thank you," Booth uttered, before standing up to leave the room.

"When do you think I'll be able to leave?" Pete asked before he left.

"Soon," he assured, looking back as he opened the door and walked out of the room.

Pete slouched down in his seat; he doubted that he was going to be let out any time soon. He might as well get more comfortable – if that was even possible, the chairs were rock hard.

As Booth walked out of the door, he bumped into Fletcher who was in the middle of a phone call asking if the person on the other end had got any information on another dead body, matching the M.O.

"Apparently there was a miss-communication," whispered Fletcher, covering the mouthpiece of the phone while waiting for the person he was talking to, to get back to him.

"It always is," Booth, sighed and rolled his eyes.

* * *

**As always thanks for reading, please let me know what you think and i'll hopefully get another chapter up soon :D **


	18. Chapter 18

**I know I said I'd post this chapter soon after posting chapter 17, but i forgot. I have the memory of a goldfish! :L So sorry about that :D Thanks to all those that my last chapter (: Got all my mock exams tomorrow and next week so I won't have time to post the next chapter or even write it, but the Christmas holidays start on the 17th so *hopefully* i can find time during them to get some writing done when i'm not revising :D**

**As always, i don't own Bones :( Hopefully I'll get it for my birthday on Tuesday :D *fingers crossed* **

*****Chapter Eighteen*****

After a few more phone calls, Fletcher had discovered who had been holding back information from them, who had been preventing them from getting to the crime scenes quicker. The three agents, Booth, Fletcher, and Foster, all stood outside of a second interrogation room. The _informant _had just been brought up by other agents and currently sat just behind the steel door. Fortunately, it had been her day to work. Fletcher and Booth were about to head out to the crime scene with the squints while Foster was to talk with their newest lead.

"We'll meet you back at the Jeffersonian later. You'll probably get their before us but I'm sure Miss Montenegro will be around somewhere," assured Fletcher. Laura Foster had never set foot in the Jeffersonian before, especially the lab and was more nervous about going there than entering the interrogation room. Sure, she had heard all about the squints but she had never worked a case where their paths crossed.

"You're the lucky one here; we're going to be stuck with Dr. Hodgins for god knows how long. At least Angela will make some good company and not complain every five minutes that someone has already been at the crime scene," laughed Booth, trying to lighten her nerves. It was something he had had to do before; surprisingly there were a lot of agents who got nervous before meeting any of the squints. "I've pre-warned him but I doubt it's done any good. He's as bad as Bones when it comes to people compromising his crime scene."

"Thanks guys, I'm sure I'll be fine," she admitted before they parted their separate ways. Booth and Fletcher walked down the corridor towards the lift while Foster turned and opened the metal door which opened into the interrogation room.

Behind the table sat a young looking woman, only just in her middle twenties, staring towards the floor with tears in her eyes. She knew why she was here, yet she had never actually thought about the consequences of what she had done. All she had known was why she had done them and who she had made a promise to. The woman was Emma Lunt, she had flagged the case file and found out every bit of information that she could about it and most likely sent it to Brennan and the others. She had also took all the calls about similar crime scenes and waited before passing them on to the FBI, giving them time to look at them for themselves. She had been their informant. But as Foster looked through her case file, she had no idea why. All they knew was that her father, David Marshal, was convicted of armed robbery almost 30 years ago, before she was even born. Foster had placed a quick call to Angela to see if there was any connection between the family and anyone they knew was helping Brennan out prior to entering the room, but they doubted they would find anything – they had lived in different states.

"Mrs Lunt, my name is Agent Laura Foster..." began Foster as she sat down in the chair opposite and put the file on the table for the both of them to see.

"Please, call me Emma, Mrs Lunt is my mother-in-law," she insisted, not looking up from the spot on the floor.

"Okay Emma, I need to ask you a few questions about the events that took place today."

"I know," she murmured.

"We have information which states that you withheld evidence from the FBI, you didn't provide us with information that you had about this case. You could be sent to prison for that, you don't want that do you?" asked Foster. Emma shook her head slightly and quickly wiped away a stray tear, still not looking up from the floor. Laura hated doing this, she had worked with Emma several times before on previous cases. She knew that Emma wouldn't do this on her own, she wouldn't willing give information away which could harm a case, there had to be something that they were missing. Hopefully, she would tell them. "What happened Emma, _I_know that you wouldn't do this without a reason," she questioned.

"My dad came to see me nine days ago, first time in three years. He was scared. I've never seen him that scared before since... I've never seen him that scared in my whole life," she admitted.

"Go on," Laura urged as she sensed her hesitation. She hadn't thought that it would have been that _easy_to get the woman to open up, especially with what she had done. Laura silently wished that it would be just as easy to get the rest of it out.

"He was so scared," she repeated. "He wasn't acting like my father at all, he made me promise him," she said, unshed tears threatening to fall. "He made me promise him to do whatever he said, to do him a favour. He... he told... he told me to... ring a number... to ring it whenever... whenever I found any information or there was a call... that linked to a certain case," she sobbed.

"The Kent family murder case?" Laura asked to clarify. Emma simply nodded, too distraught to do anything else. She had betrayed her father's trust; she had collapsed under the pressure and shared the secret.

"Why? Why did he ask you to flag the file, has he got something to do with it? Is he helping either side of this fight?"

"No... no, he's... he didn't want to do it, I swear. But they made him, they said he had to do it. He said that they said and then... I don't know! I was just helping out my dad. He was my dad! Wouldn't you have done the same thing?" she snapped, wiping away the tears that refused to stop falling.

"Who made him? Who are they Emma? Who did you talk to on the phone, did you recognise them? From your childhood maybe?"

"I. Don't. Know," she stated. "Don't you think I'd tell you if I did?"

Before Laura had the chance to respond to her question, her phone started to ring from inside her pocket. Quickly taking the phone out, she checked the ID and excused herself from the table for a moment and walked over to the corner of the room so that she could still keep an eye on the woman.

"Foster," she answered automatically.

"_Hey, it's Angela from the Jeffersonian; I ran the father's name along with all of the others and surprisingly, I've found a connection,"_Angela announced from the other end of the line.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief, she hadn't actually thought that they would find anything between any of them; the father or the daughter.

"_Yeah, erm, David Marshal spent time in jail with Charlie Jones back in the late '70's. He was only in for a ten months for being an accessory to armed robbery; he was driving the get-away car. Charlie was in for much longer, eighteen months for... erm... possession of drugs, I think, but their paths crossed for those ten months that Marshal was in,"_she briefly explained without going in to too much detail. Angela knew that she was still talking to the daughter so she didn't want to keep her long.

"Thank you Angela, I'll meet you at the lab when I'm done here."

"_No problem," _Angela assured, as she hung up the phone and got back to work.

Laura put the phone back in her pocket and sat back down at the table; she now had a new line of questioning which she could try. Hopefully, it would work.

"Emma, do you know a man by the name of Charlie Jones?" she began.

"Yeah, everyone does; he's that killer who's wanted in most states. Why?"

"No, I mean, do you know him _personally_? Has your dad ever spoken about him or do you remember seeing him during your childhood?"

"No... I mean, I didn't get to see my father that often; mainly on weekends and the occasional week day if it was during the school holidays. My mum didn't really like me to be around him that much, with him being sent to jail and that but..."

"While he was in jail he spent some time with Charlie Jones, who we believe is now connected to this case. We believe he is helping out Dr. Brennan and her father in their own hunt for this killer," Laura explained. "We think that this man is the person who contacted your father, made him get you involved. Do you think that this would be possible?"

"I dunno, maybe, I mean he's a _killer_ right? Who wouldn't do what he told them to do?"

"Are you still in contact with your father? Do you know where we could find him?"

"I'm sorry, as soon as he told me what he wanted me to do he said that he had to leave for a while. He said that he had to get away from it all, I didn't listen to his reasons – they're always the same. I made a promise to my dad and I had to keep it, all I have is the number I had to call. I only thought I had to do it once, that's all, but when I gave them the first lot of information, they wanted more. They told me that it was all part of the deal, they said that I had to keep doing it, until it was over," she revealed, looking back down at the table. "I was trying to keep my promise to my dad," she whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Would you write the number down for me please, the number you used to contact them," Laura requested, sliding over a notebook and a pen. Cautiously, Emma picked the pen up and began to write down the number she had unwilling memorised. She was still unsure whether she was doing the right thing, but what else was there to do? She couldn't exactly lie to the FBI, and it was all too late now for worrying; she had told them everything.

"Thank you for your co-operation Emma, an agent will arrive in a while to escort you out," Laura reassured as she stood up from her chair and left the small room. As she took a quick glance back over her shoulder, she saw the young woman put her head in her hands and begin to sob once again. Laura sighed, she felt sorry for her but there was nothing she could do at the moment; she had to get to the Jeffersonian so that Angela could run the number she had just been given and hopefully they would be able to find out some information on the relationship between David Marshal and Charlie Jones.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Laura Foster was walking through the doors to the famous Jeffersonian lab, trying to take in every little detail. She had been told many stories by agents who had worked with the squints before but she had never imagined it like it was. What she imagined was a small little basement with a couple of office leading off; the main work going off in the centre where everyone was crowded around but what she saw was completely different. Everything looked so spacious – there were more than a couple of offices branching off and several open work stations surrounding the large platform in the middle of the room where she was told that most things happened – where they looked at the bodies. She had no idea where she needed to be, instead she stood in the entrance just looking around, hoping that someone would be able to point her in the right direction.

"Agent Foster?" announced Angela, appearing just a few feet in front of where she was. "Sorry, I should have remembered that you wouldn't know where to go," she laughed. "It's not very often we get visitors around here." Laura walked over to where she stood, still overwhelmed by the size of the place, constantly looking round to see things she had missed moments ago. "It's pretty big in here, but you get used to it," she said as she led the agent over to where her office was. Together, they walked into the office and stood in front of the new Angelator screen.

"Did she tell you why she did it?" asked Angela breaking the silence. Foster instantly knew who she meant and shrugged her shoulders.

"She said that she made a promise to her father, but she's claiming she doesn't know where her father is so asking him is out of the question. There's got to be something between David Marshal and Charlie Jones that made Marshal make his daughter leak the information, he wouldn't have done it without a reason. You sure the two of them in jail is the only link?"

"Yeah, I double checked everything to make sure and it's all I could find. The only time they have been recorded together is those ten months in the Arizona jail."

"Wait a minute, let's think about this, it was Marshal's first time in jail and he was only supposed to be driving the car at the robbery..." began Foster.

"_And_ he wasn't arrested with any weapons on him," added Angela, bringing the report back up on the screen and quickly scanning over the text. "It says here that he was only in interrogation for half an hour and they got a full confession from it; that doesn't sound like some tough criminal."

"You think Jones protected him while he was in jail? You think he made him repay the favour, held it against him?" she suggested.

"It'd make sense, a guy like Jones, he needs connections. Why not make a few friends in jail, protect a few people – for him it'd be easy enough – and then, when the time comes, when he needs it, he can get them to repay the favour," Angela proposed. It was a good enough theory for the agent, and it could just work. "Did you get her to give you the number she called?" she asked, changing the subject.

Foster nodded her head and handed over the slip of paper that Emma Lunt had written the number on and watched as Angela quickly typed it in and waited for the database to search. After a few seconds of waiting in silence, the computer beeped letting them know they had results.

"The number is from a prepaid cell phone which is currently turned off, last phone call came in from the FBI building at 2am this morning; probably giving them information about the body that had been found. I'll try to get a location of where the phone was last, by looking at the cell towers around the area they were last seen in; they can't- they _won't_ have gone very far, not with the investigation still going on," explained Angela.

"Thank you, again, you've been a lot of help – I now believe all the stories that I've heard," Foster chuckled.

"Stories?"

"Yeah, from some of the agents that have worked with you previously; I didn't really believe any of them until now – now I've seen how you work, I can see why you're so highly spoken of," she said with a smile. Angela blushed, she'd never heard of any of the stories that the FBI had – Booth had never spoken of them and she didn't personally spend a lot of time at the Hoover Building. In fact, she didn't even know that the agents _had_ stories about them.

"I didn't know, Booth doesn't really talk about other agents unless they work with us – even then it's only to reassure us that they're good agents. He isn't really the gossipy type," laughed Angela.

"He talks about you a lot," she began. Angela blushed again and sent her a look, which said 'really'. "Yeah, he talks about Dr. Brennan a lot too," she admitted. Angela raised her eyebrows, now this conversation was getting interesting. She had always wondered what the relationship between the two of them was really like; what they _really_ thought about each other.

"He talks about Bren?"

"Yeah, I've only actually met her once – she was walking out of the Hoover Building with Booth one time – but from what I've heard him say about her..." She trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence off. All she knew was that she wished that she would one day find a man like Booth, someone who would always say brilliant things about her, compliment her when she wasn't even there to receive it. "Even when he's mad and _even_ if it's something she's done, he still has that look in his eye... The one that no one knows what it means," she laughed.

"Yeah, I've seen him give her that look plenty of times. He's broken without her; he's making us all worried; we don't know what he's going to do next with Bren not here."

"You think there's something between them?"

"Ever since they met, there's always been something there. I just hope that they'll realise it before it's too late; hopefully, their _separation_ will give them that one last push... Speak of the devil; we better shut up before he hears us." Angela could have carried on for a while, explaining why they belonged together, all the moments she had witnessed between them, but they were about to be interrupted by the man himself.

"Maybe we should let him hear us, I don't think it'd hurt... but then again, _they're just partners,_" she laughed, imitating the way Booth always used to say his common phrase.

Booth entered the office moments after they had heard the sound of footsteps getting closer. They had immediately shut up and tried to keep a straight face, Angela flicking through the documents on the screen to try to keep her mind off the conversation she just had. Once Hodgins and Cam had also had time to enter the room, only seconds later, they were finding it harder and harder to stay serious until they found themselves burst out with laughter.

The three people who had just walked into the room looked at them with a confused expression evident all over their faces at the two women doubled over in hysterics.

"I don't even wanna know what you two are laughing about, I'm gonna go look at some bugs instead," announced Hodgins, rolling his eyes at the two of them and walking back out of the room. As he went, he collected the box of evidence he had brought back with him, which he had left just outside the door when he had walked in.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go look at the body with Wendell and Nigel-Murray, erm, I'll let you know as soon as I know something," Cam mumbled before walking out in the same direction Hodgins had just gone in.

"What you got for us?" asked Booth. The two women straightened up wiping away the tears that had built up in their eyes, still chuckling to themselves, as they began to go through what they had found out about David Marshal and the _informant._

* * *

Pete was still sat in the interrogation room, all by himself. He had tried numerous times to get more comfortable in the metal chair but it just seemed impossible. Just as he had predicted, where the twigs had snapped against his skin began to throb in pain. From what he could feel, he had several on his chest and arms and one along his cheek and now, even a slight movement would send another wave of pain searing through each one of them. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to run through the woods. As he sat in the chair, he wished that he had some of the 'magic cream' with him that he used to put on his kids whenever they got a scratch or a cut.

He kept looking at his watch working out times, checking the time, and making sure he had given them enough time at the crime scene before letting the FBI know about the body. He hoped he had anyway. It had all been part of the plan; he was to try and keep the FBI away for as long as possible giving them enough time to at least scan the crime scene. He had given them at least ten minutes there but he couldn't be sure, that was what worried him.

"_Agent Foster is interrogating her now, apparently she was the informant to those criminals working on the Kent case,"_he heard someone on the outside say. He felt his stomach flip inside, he hadn't heard much about the person who was feeding them information, but what he had heard didn't help the situation he was in now much better. From what he had head, Charlie had some sort of relationship between her dad who owed him a favour but the relationship between the father and the daughter wasn't very good yet she had still agreed to go along with it all. That worried him. Who knew what she would tell the FBI about them, how much did she actually know?

Pete sighed once again, it didn't matter anymore; all that mattered were that his kids were safe, and that's what Brennan had promised him. They were all going to be fine, they would solve this case, he would be let go from the FBI, and he would go home to see his kids and everyone would be all right.

* * *

Back at the pub, they had all arrived back completely fine but they still hadn't heard anything from Pete. During the car ride back, they had agreed that they would look into it later – give him a few extra hours to contact them before they started ringing people. He had most likely gotten arrested, but they had covered that with him as part of the plan. As they walked into the downstairs room, locking it behind them like always, they saw that all four kids were still sleeping soundly in their 'beds'. Freddie was sat on one of the sofa's watching whatever was on the TV that early in the morning – as expected it wasn't a lot. He turned to face them as they walked through the door, his hand ready on the gun just in case.

"Everything go okay?" he asked as they walked over to where he sat.

"We didn't get caught if that's what you mean, we'll talk about all the details later but right now I think we should get some sleep. I don't know about you, but I'm shattered." Everyone mumbled in agreement, nodding heads and yawning. Gradually, each of them retreated to the 'bed' that they slept in. Max was the last one to put the file down and decide to get some sleep, as he manoeuvred through the mattresses he listened to everyone else's gentle snores bringing a smile to his face.

Brennan was awoken by the sound of a young child's sniffles close to where she lay. As she slowly opened her eyes, she noted that all four children had watery eyes; Dylan wrapped in James' arms crying while Jess tried to talk to Zach who refused to look up from the floor. Grabbing a cardigan next to her bed, she got up and walked over to where they were sat in front of the TV, sitting down next to them.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked quietly, so not to wake up the other people in the room.

"We woke up early so we switched the TV set on, nothing was on apart from the news so we just watched that... Nothing interesting was on until a little while ago, we saw... we saw that..." began Jess.

"We saw dad get arrested," James finished.

"What did Daddy do wrong? Why does he have to go to jail? He didn't do anything wrong! Dad's a good guy, right?" Dylan cried, waking up the others in the room.

"What's happening?" mumbled Charlie as he rose from where he had been laying, rubbing his eyes to adjust to the light that was beaming from the lamp where Brennan and the kids sat.

"They found out that Pete's been arrested," whispered Freddie who had heard the whole conversation since he had been unable to sleep. Charlie nodded his head as Tommy looked at his watch, it was 10am.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Who wants pancakes? I'm sure Billy's got the stuff upstairs in his kitchen," suggested Tommy, trying to lighten the mood.

"As long as there's chocolate chips, I'm there," insisted James, sensing what his grandfather was trying to do and helping him along. "What do you say Dill, chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast?" he asked the nine year old who was still curled up on his knee. Dylan made no movement apart from a small shake of his head. Brennan stood up to join the other adult that were stood around also, not sure of what to do.

"You lot go up for breakfast, take the kids, I'll talk to Dill for a bit," she requested. The others nodded their heads. The twins had heard the proposition and also got up to follow them; James lifted Dylan up from where he sat and sat him back down on the bed while Jess stood up, picking Zach up with her so he had no choice but to come with them. Together, they unlocked the door and walked up to the bar – at this time the bar would be shut with all the blinds down. They would be safe to be up there for a while – until the bar opened at 12pm at least.

Brennan shut the door behind them and sat down across from where Dylan sat on the bed.

"Come here," she said, motioning for him to sit on her knee. He did as he was told, resting his head on her chest and sighing. "Your dad's going to be okay, you know that right?" she began. The little boy nodded his head, acknowledging what she had said but making no comment. "He's going to be fine, the FBI are only going to ask him a few questions and then he'll be able to come home," she pointed out, hoping that what she said was the truth; who knew when the FBI were going to release him. They hoped that it would be soon, or at least when the case was over.

"I know," he mumbled. "I know he'll be safe; he's the best dad in the world, he's strong."

"Exactly."

"Thank you for being friends with my Dad, Auntie Tempe; you're always there to help him out when he needs it – like really good friends are supposed to! And, I like that we're all working together to help you out, you deserve it," he admitted, now with a huge smile on his face. Brennan laughed and kissed the top of his head.

"Of course she deserves it, she's the best mummy in the world!" exclaimed Zach from the doorway. Neither had heard him walk back in so they turned to face him – Dylan still sat on Brennan's knee. "Uncle Freddie, wanted me to ask you if you wanted Chocolate chips or... erm... something else."

"We'll be up in a minute sweetheart," Brennan said. Zach nodded his head but lingered in the doorway for a bit longer.

"It's a shame Agent Booth can't be here though, he was cool. Do you think he's the one who arrested my dad? Do you think he's gonna talk to him?"

"I don't know Dill, there's a lot of agents at the FBI, but I _do_ know that Booth liked your dad, he told me himself, so he won't let anybody hurt him," she assured as they both stood up and walked over to the door where Zach was stood.

"Not as much as he likes you, he even said so," he whispered, making the two younger boys begin to giggle. Brennan shook her head and pretended that she hadn't heard what she had but on the inside, she was wearing the biggest smile.

"Shh... It's a secret!" warned Zach as the two of them ran up the stairs. Brennan followed close behind as her hand clutched around the small toy pig in the pocket of her cardigan; the same place it had been since she had left her apartment just over a week ago.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, please tell me what you thought of this chapter; feedback (both good and bad) is much appreciated :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry for the extremely long wait, life got in the way once again - January exams to be exact. Thankfully, they're all over now :). I know it's a bit late but hope everyone had a good Christmas and a happy new year :D **

**A new chapter won't take as long next time I promise, I'll hopefully have it posted soon :) **

*****Chapter Nineteen*****

They all came back down after eating a very appetising set of pancakes, cooked by Tommy and while they had been eating, they had agreed that the twins would keep the two youngsters occupied while they had the crime scene photos out, so that they wouldn't see anything. The others had already entered the room, leaving Brennan and her son still on the stairs, Zach taking his time as he looked over a comic that they had brought with them from the warehouse.

"Come on Zach or they'll lock us out!" joked Brennan, trying to hurry her son up.

"I am mummy; I'm just lookin' at this book! It's that one that Uncle Pete let me borrow. You think he's still letting me borrow it even if he's not here?" he asked innocently.

"Of course he is silly, Uncle Pete is going to come home soon and then you can ask him for yourself, but I am certain that you're still allowed to look at the book."

"Okay," Zach agreed, closing the book and putting it in his back pocket like he had seen Pete, Freddie and James do on several occasions.

"Actually, before we go in what was that secret you and Dill were talking about earlier?" she probed, stopping on the second to last step and turning back around to face Zach. He stopped a few steps above where she stood, a grin emerging on his face.

"Can't tell you that mummy, that's why it's called a secret," he giggled before trying to get passed where she stood on the stairs. Instead of letting him past, she scooped him up into a big hug cradling him close to her chest. "Mummy!" he gasped, the shock of being swept off his feet still not registering with his brain yet.

"I love you," she whispered into his hair as she kissed his forward before setting him on his feet again.

"I love you too mummy," he grinned, turning back as he ran to catch up with the others that had already entered the room. Brennan followed shortly behind, shutting the door and locking it as she entered the room after her son.

Brennan and Zach had only been a few minutes behind the others but they had already laid out everything that they had collected over the past few days, while, Jess and James sat on the opposite side of the room, occupying the two younger children with books and games.

"Right, okay, so what we got. Let's go over it all _again _and hopefully, we'll find something that we missed before. Something useful," began Max, spreading the sheets out and making sure that none of them overlapped.

"I found something at the crime scene," announced Zach, pulling the small slip of paper that he had kept securely in his pocket since he had retrieved it. "I did try to tell you, but nobody was listening," he admitted, handing it over to Max.

All three older men gathered around the small piece of evidence looking over it until a smile emerged on each man's face leaving the rest of them confused.

"What is it?" asked Freddie for the three other adults in the room; all of them wanting to know what it meant.

"A lead."

* * *

The main thing about where there were, was that it was dark. And it smelt bad, really bad. Where they were stood right now, was small, dark and dingy. But it was also perfect. It meant that they could hide, right in plain sight and nobody would even know. People walking by were oblivious to the cries that rang out through the hallways. It was perfect. Three men were standing in a dimly lit room, the only light streaming through a small circular window and a lamp at the opposite side of the room. Faces couldn't be distinguished but _they _knew exactly who they were standing with.

"You sure that this is gonna work?" one man asked another.

"I've already said yes once, how many times do you need to ask? Just do what you're supposed to and everything else will go smoothly. Just concentrate on what _you _are supposed to," snarled a voice from the corner of the room.

Under normal circumstances, people would've been scared by the menacing voice that spoke up but the other two people in the room knew that he meant well deep down; he had no other option but to act like this. He was the second in charge of the whole 'operation', of their _mission. _Whatever it was that they had agreed to a few months ago (that's how long they had planned it... months) had drastically changed. Nothing was going _to plan_. But none of them were able to do anything; not even the man stood across from them, snarling at them.

None of them had a choice in this anymore though. Not even his own brother was allowed a say in what happened. The fury and the anger of the man in charge had changed him into some demon that they no longer knew. Somewhere deep down inside he was the same boy they had grown up with but that was no longer visible on the outside. He was something different, different things now ran through his head. Revenge was all he thought. The youngest man in the room, the first man who had spoke up, grabbed a set of keys off of the small table that the lamp was stood on; not wanting to cause any more arguments, aware of what they could inevitable lead to, he grabbed the keys and did what he was supposed to. His part of the bargain.

"Now we do what _we _were supposed to do," the voice spoke again. This time without the anger in his voice. He had regretted it as soon as he had used the tone he had; they were his friends and he had no idea why he was treating them like he did. They were only here to help him because they were friends. Childhood friends. As he walked away from the wall, stepping directly in front of the light momentarily, the scar that marred his right cheek visible in the light.

"Does it still hurt Sam?" the third man in the room asked, both of them know exactly what he was talking about. The scar.

"No," Sam lied. Of course it hurt. It hurt every day of his life, and sometimes if he thought about it too much it would actually physically hurt. But the emotionally pain was there every second of every day; reminding that it was still there, that it hadn't gone. Reminding him what the consequences of arguing with his brother actually were, that no matter how much he loved his brother, the love was never mutual.

The conversation was dropped and the two of them walked through the door leading them into a corridor. A silent corridor. That's just how the man in charge liked it, silent and getting emptier over time. When they had first started eleven days ago, there had been eight individuals occupying the four different rooms that lined the hallway but now there were only four remaining and only two rooms were taken.

Each man chose a door, pulling two scraggly rags out of their back pockets and a gun from their font as the stood in front of where they would go next. Sam threw an extra rag across to the other man, Chris, before they both stepped inside the cold and gloomy rooms to face the frightened people on the other side.

Quickly, they blindfolded each person, which was easier said than done. For Chris, the two younger children were easy and we too exhausted to resist what was happening to them. However, the man and the fifteen-year-old were a different story; both struggled against the vice like grip of the men as they tried to cut off their sense of sight. Two sharp cracks rang out and the two instantly allowed the blindfolds to be tied around their heads. The two captors pushed the four forward, urging them towards the back door of the building; the door that would allow them to see the real world once again in what seemed like months, or even years.

Their happiness and hope was short lived as they saw a gray unmarked van pull up beside the door, the back doors swinging open to reveal another one of the captors. A smile lit his face as he saw the battered people who would be accompanying him on _their _journey. Georgia got one last glance up at the sun, the rays managing to shine through the black material before being thrown into the back of the van, her head hitting the side. The upside of this situation? She got to be with her _dad _again, however long that may last.

* * *

A small breeze washed over them as they stood silently, observing the small abandoned warehouse, which was far from original in Freddie's opinion, from where they stood a few feet away. Max, Tommy and Charlie stood huddled together behind the car they had previously climbed out of discussing their best points of access. Freddie stood just off to the side, adrenalin rushing through his body, a jumble of excitement and nervousness clashing continuously with each other. He looked at the person standing beside him, the emotions building up in their eyes desperately trying to keep it all bottled up. He took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze before dropping it again.

Brennan looked up at him, flashing him a quick smile; if he had blinked he would've missed it completely. She had insisted on coming with them, promising that she wouldn't get in the way, but telling them that she _needed _to go with them. In just a few moments all of this could be over; the days of hiding out, of laying low would finally be over. Whoever was doing this could be right through the metal door that she could see clearly from where she stood, they would then _catch _him and it would all be over. Then she could go home, home to Booth. After a good few minutes of arguing two sides, her father had finally let her come along with them as long as she stayed safe.

Back at the pub, they had agreed to leave Zach with the children behind the heavily locked door. Tommy had given them strict rules not to open the door to anyone under any circumstances only satisfied when they all gave a weak nod through their fear – never had they seen him that strict with them. He had softened up afterward and allowed them to come up with a 'secret password'._'Eagle-fish' _had been decided upon thanks to Dylan and Zach.

Max opened the door of the car and grabbed the single bag that they had brought with them; inside was a weapon for each of them. He handed one to each of them, including Brennan. He had hesitantly given it to her, hating the sight of his daughter with a gun, but he needed to make sure that she kept protected. The five of them quickly separated, taking different advantage points around the front of the warehouse. Max hidden behind the wall on the right of the building, Tommy opposite him, behind a wall to the left of the building. Charlie made his way to the top of the building directly across the road from the warehouse, the perfect spot to position his own sniper and to keep an overview of what happened below. Freddie stayed where he was behind the car while Brennan moved slightly further down the street to crouch behind a van belonging to someone from a neighbouring building.

Everyone was in position, waiting for the right time to begin this fight, or end it. It had lasted for too long now and too many people had been killed. Innocent people. Children. Seconds passed before the first shot rang out, echoing around the concrete yard.

* * *

Booth was still at the Jeffersonian gathering the pieces that each squint had found, analysing what it could mean and where it could lead with Angela and the two other FBI agents Foster and Fletcher. The sound of his phone ringing pulled him away from the conversation and to the corner of Angela's room so that he would be able to hear the person on the other end of the line.

"Booth," he answered, flipping open the phone and putting it to his ear. Whoever was on the end of the line was in a rush, giving as much detail as possible in the short amount of time they had.

As soon as the phone call ended he turned back to face the others who had stopped their conversation to try and listen in to what was being said.

"Someone heard shots being fired at an industrial estate just of town, a witness identified five people including Max Keenan, Thomas Edwards and Charlie Jones. The Director wants a team to head over there and check it out, he's sent a backup team over there now," he rushed to explain as he headed to the door. The two agents followed closely behind leaving Angela behind to worry over the series of outcomes that could happen.

* * *

Booth, Foster and Fletcher arrived at the warehouse in record time, thanks to the siren on the car and Booth's foot never leaving the accelerator, managing to pull up only a few moments after the back up team had arrived. The three backup agents had climbed out of their car, already facing their boot putting on their bulletproof vests and reaching for spare guns that were kept there. Booth jumped out of the car and rushed around to his own boot, handing Foster and Fletcher a vest of their own as they grabbed for multiple guns.

It took a matter of seconds to decide where each agent would go, where they would enter the fight from. They had parked away from where everything was happening but they could still hear each shot as it rang through the yard. Luckily, no one had seen them arrive, or no one had alarmed everyone else to their arrival turning the fire on them. The six agents wasted no time scattering to their positions and waiting until Booth gave the all clear to enter the fight themselves.

Two of the backup agents crept around the building so that they could enter from the opposite side and still not be seen by anyone down the street, the third crept up onto the roof of a building, which was situated next to the warehouse. He had instantly seen Charlie laying on the adjacent roof and tried his best to keep out of his sight, they had agreed to only shoot the _good _guys when and if they shot at them, only allowing themselves to help them out and fire at the _bad _guys. But Charlie had seen him as soon as he had climbed up onto the roof, in fact he had seen all of the FBI agents arrive lower down the street. He had calmly watched them as they had made their way down the street making a promise to not shoot at any of them, as long as they didn't shoot at them. Brennan wouldn't want any of them to get hurt, especially not Booth.

Booth, Fletcher and Foster stayed back on the other side of the street behind a car, unbeknownst to them it was the same car that Max and the others had arrived in, evaluating the scene in front of them. Max and Tommy were in the middle of the yard hidden behind whatever they could find while Freddie and Brennan stayed further back. None of the three could see where Charlie was but they all knew that he was there. Bullets were being shot into two smashed windows on the front of the warehouse followed by several more being shot out. Booth could see the shadow of at least two men behind the windows but neither of them stepped close enough to allow a clear sighting.

They moved in closer as one of the men stepped out of the warehouse, straight out of the front door, confidence oozing from him as he walked shielded by numerous cars. All the confidence was suddenly knocked out of him as one lone bullet flew past his arm, it was only a scratch but it allowed a large red stain to form on him once-clean blue chequered shirt. The four other members of the _good _guy team look around to the roof where Charlie sat smirking only to look round again moments later as more shots rang out. All of them had noticed the FBI agents hidden behind their car but as long as they stayed on the _right _side then they would be no harm to them.

Another man followed out of the house but making sure not to make the same mistake as his friend before him. The three agents lost sight of him as he made his way through the parked vehicles, deciding that now was the best time to make their move. Separately, they made their way to the edge of the yard, joining with the other agents behind a car of their own.

Booth and Agent Foster had made their way safely across the road and where waiting for Fletcher to join them before they started to fire any bullets. However, just as he began to make his way towards them, a single bullet was shot tearing through his left shoulder and out again, landing somewhere on the floor behind him. Fletcher grabbed at his shoulder, pressing down on the wound to try and stop the blood flowing from it as he retreated behind the nearest car. He looked up just in time to see one of the 'bad guys', the second man that left the building, bob down behind a car of his own. Sam Harding carried on shooting smashing the windows of both cars but none of the bullets hit Fletcher.

"You okay Fletch?" yelled Booth over the sound of bullets being fired. The younger agent just nodded as he tried to prevent the scream of pain that was rippling through his chest. Booth carried on with the fight as he saw agent Foster rush over to her partners side with a small first aid kit that she'd grabbed from the car as soon as she'd seen the shooter fire the bullet. Rapidly, she worked on unwrapping a bandage and securing tightly around his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding until he could get to the hospital, she had worked with him long enough to know that a gunshot wound wouldn't stop him fight. As soon as it was fastened the two of them went back to fighting against the shooter side by side, noticing Tommy come up from the side to help them.

Max looked around at the scene in front of him, 'chaos' was the only word that sprung to mind to describe what was happening. It was _at least _eleven again only two but still there was no one winning. Bullets were being fired but no one was getting hit badly enough to stop what was happening. Charlie and the other agent were still up on the roof with their snipers but it was getting harder and harder to take a shot. Tommy was edging closer to where two other agents were firing at one of the men from the warehouse. Freddie was firing against the man that Charlie had fired at earlier and was about to be joined by another FBI agent. He couldn't see exactly where Brennan was, but he knew his daughter, he knew that she was hidden somewhere – waiting for the right moment to strike.

Just like Max had seen, Freddie was in a battle between the first man that had walked out of the warehouse, two single cars separating them. Chris Smith emptied rounds of bullets, none of them actually hitting anything but glass and metal while Freddie tried to save as many bullets as possible only shooting when he thought it had a decent shot. He felt a second presence near him as an FBI agent crouch beside him.

"Need any help?" he offered smiling down at Freddie.

"Sure, why not," he replied, leaning back against the car to take a breath. "As long as you shoot at the right man," he joked to try and lighten the atmosphere surrounding them. The agent laughed at him, Freddie could see the sincere in his eyes, the trust level increasing slightly between the two of them.

The shooting carried on over the top of the two cars; Freddie and the FBI Agent, he had not been able to catch his name yet, were slowly gaining the upper hand. Smith was running out of bullets, soon he would have none and have to either surrender or leave cover to find more. A few more bullets later, Freddie found himself the perfect shot – or so he thought. He would try to take the man alive, that way they would be able to _question _him and try to get some answers to the many questions they had. Freddie jumped up, surprising both the Agent beside him and the man shooting at them, and took his shot. It only took two bullets, both landing in the man's feet rendering him disabled – he was unable to move, Freddie now had the upper hand.

He looked around to smile at the agent and was shocked to find him laying on the ground. Dead. It wasn't until now that he noticed the pain in his right arm, looking down he saw a blood stain begin to grow on his arm. Before gaining his own wounds, the man across from them had managed to use his last two bullets; one scraping Freddie's arm – nothing serious – and the other hitting the agent beside him in the centre of his forehead, killing him instantly. He didn't have much time to think about things as he pushed the sympathy and the guilt to the back of his mind for now. He grabbed the agents handcuffs from his belt and quickly jumped over the top of the two cars to where the man was lying, shouting out in pain trying to stop the blood pouring from his feet. He snapped the cuffs around the man's hands, locking them around a nearby pole to prevent him from moving – just in case the bullet holes in his feet wouldn't stop him.

Afterwards he made his way back to their car, Max giving him the extra protection he needed as he walked through the cars. Back at the car he would grab the bag of emergency supplies and bandage his arm the best he could so that he could get back to the fight and help his father take out the last remaining man.

Tommy smiled proudly at his son from where he hid; he had watched as he captured the other man _alive _even when he saw the man next to him die. One son surrendered himself to give them some extra time and his next son still managed to restrain a man with a gun with his own gunshot wound in his arm. Right now he was a v_ery _proud father.

Sam Harding was still shooting at the FBI agents from behind a few cars. Brennan had watched Freddie get shot and make his way to the car with her father from where she was hidden. Now she watched as the man in front of her shot at Tommy, two agents she didn't recognise and Booth. That was when she had decided to make her move. She looked up at where Charlie who was still perched on the roof and nodded her head towards where the man stood. He nodded back, silently agreeing to her plan.

Brennan moved around the cars, making her way forward while trying to keep as quiet as possible so that she wouldn't get noticed. Booth stopped firing momentarily to finally see Brennan, worry and anger rose in his chest. He hated the situation they were in – she shouldn't have to go through all of this just because someone had a problem with people she called family. He kept silent so that she could still carry on with whatever she had planned to do, promising himself and her that he would have her back.

Once Brennan had got close enough she raised her gun, still she hadn't been spotted by the man her gun was now pointed at. The agents in front stopped shooting as a single bullet hit the man that they had been shooting at from behind. It had only hit him in the shoulder but it caused him to fall back enough for Charlie to finally get a clear shot. Charlie's bullet shot through his head, pushing the body straight to the floor.

Everyone sighed in relief as the fight finally ended. The FBI agents slowly started to put their weapons away as Tommy ran to the car where his son was still trying to wrap the bandage around himself, helping him fasten it before shutting the boot of the car. Max looked up to where Charlie was as a small stone landed just at his feet, Charlie signalled down to him letting him know that he would make his own way back to the pub. That way Charlie could take his time to carefully get down from the roof, making sure he left no evidence behind while the others left quickly to avoid getting arrested by the FBI.

The sound of breaking glass and another gunshot made every single head snap towards where Brennan stood. It all happened in slow motion, something none of them ever wanted to see, especially Max and Booth. The two of them watched as Brennan flew back, hitting one of the cars behind her, her hands instantly reaching to clutch her chest where the bullet had just hit.

* * *

**Thanks for reading :). Please let me know what you thought of it; what you liked, what you didn't like, what you want or think should happen next. All comments are appreciated and much loved :D **

**~LittleMiss :) **


	20. Chapter 20

**Life got in the way again, well school to be exact :/. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my story last time - my inbox was full of alerts and reviews :D. I've already started writing the next chapter and hopefully I can finish it over the weekend - if i find some time between school work and a cinema trip :D. **

*********Chapter Twenty*****

The slow motion only lasted seconds, as soon as Booth heard Brennan gasp in shock he began racing forward, Foster following closely behind him. The two remaining backup agents ran after the man who had pulled the trigger, who had remained in the building. One agent ran on the floor through the building while the other stayed on the roof so that he could have a wider look over the back of the warehouse if he ran out. Fletcher ran back to their car to fetch the larger first aid kit while dialling for an ambulance as he ran.

Max ran forward shouting his daughters name only to be stopped by her shouting orders back at him, a fake confidence trying to mask the pain in her voice.

"I'm fine dad. Go. I'm fine," she yelled as best as she could, only coming out as strangled pleas but he would've heard his daughters voice from miles away. Her voice stopped yelling as the pain got too much for her, but he could still make out her whispered orders. Reluctantly, he obeyed and returned back to the car; they would be no good to her if they got themselves arrested and taken in cuffs to the FBI. They would get her back later, when she was better.

He turned back for one last glance at Brennan, but he could no longer see her due to the three FBI agents surrounding her; at least she was in safe hands. Booth would never let anything happen to her. The second he closed the car door behind him, Tommy put his foot down on the accelerator and they sped off down the street back towards the pub leaving behind both Temperance and Charlie.

Charlie had seen it all happen and luckily, he had gotten a glimpse at the man who had done it; a good enough look to be able to identify the man if they ever crossed paths again. He collected everything on the roof that belonged to him quickly but stayed on the roof to watch over Brennan. He may not have been able to be down there to help her directly but up on the roof he could watch over her – like a guardian angel.

Fletcher watched as the car sped off down the road, but right now catching the men inside wasn't a priority – they would have chance to do that on another occasion. Right now, all that mattered was making sure that Dr. Brennan kept breathing long enough for the paramedics to arrive.

As soon as Booth had reached Brennan's side, he ripped off the thin black t-shirt that was covering the wound allowing him to see the extent of the damage. From what he could see, the bullet was still somewhere inside her chest; there was only one wound covering her body which was currently being covered with his hand to try and slow down the bleeding. He wasn't a doctor but even Booth knew that things didn't look good, she was fading fast – her face getting paler and paler by the minute.

Laura Foster was by his side in less than a minute, she too gasped at the open wound on the doctors chest. She didn't waste any time tearing a clean part of the black top to use to try and clean up the wound as best she could with the little she had. Fletcher came back with the first aid kit and soon the two agents were opening multiple packets of gauze and anything else they could use to try and stop the bleeding. Booth had lifted his hand and moved closer to Brennan, laying her head on his folded jacket, to give the two of them more room, not wanting to get in the way if it would save her life.

He bent down closer to her head, whispering support in her ear and begging her to keep breathing as he watched the life slowly drain out of her eyes. Never before had he seen her like this, he hated it, it was one of the worst moments in his life – easily in the top five.

"Hey, hey, I don't give you permission to die," he warned as he watched her eyelids begin to drop shut. His own heart rate raising as he thought of a life without his partner. Without his Bones.

"I need you permission?" she whispered, not strong enough to say it any louder but Booth could still hear the playfulness in her voice and he could see the small shadow of a smile on her face.

"Yep, I don't give it to you so you're gonna have to stay here with me forever and ever," he continued, smiling back at her. Tears pricking in the back of both their eyes; it wasn't supposed to end like this. They were supposed to finish this case either separately or together and then they would be able to work out all of this mess and move on _together_.

"I like... the sound... of... that," she whispered, her voice getting weaker as she spoke but she fought through the pain just to tell him. Booth grinned at her and kissed her forehead as the sound of sirens came from down the street. She had made it this far, she was strong, she could make it through it all.

Agents Fletcher and Foster moved out of the way as three paramedics ran over, surrounding her body to look at the damage. Booth stayed out of the way of them, staying at the top of her head where he stroked her hair to give her a reminder that he was still there. There for her.

Once the paramedics had made her stable enough, they lifted Brennan up onto the gurney that they had brought from the back of the ambulance.

"You coming with us sir?" one of the paramedics asked Booth as they started to wheel Brennan towards to back of the ambulance. He looked towards the two other agents stood next to him as if asking if he could, if they needed him there with them.

"Booth, go, she needs you there with her," Foster urged, pushing him forward to emphasise her point.

"We've got it from here Booth," added Fletcher. "We'll meet up with you later as soon as we've done." Booth nodded and silently followed Brennan, climbing into the back of the ambulance. He grabbed onto Brennan's hand as the back doors closed and one of the paramedics set off in the direction of the hospital.

Fletcher turned around to make his way towards the warehouse while Foster stayed outside to call the FBI building and let them know what happened. Another FBI agent walked out of the house, stopping Fletcher to talk to him.

"Sorry sir, we lost the man who shot Dr. Brennan, he was inside the building when he fired the gun and we think he ran out as soon as it happened giving him a head-start. All I got was a look at the back of his head, Ben might have seen something up on the roof," he explained as another man came to stand beside him.

"Sorry, I didn't get a good enough look at him for an ID, he kept his head down as he ran," he apologised before walking over to where a paramedic was stood looking at the gunshot wounds in Smith. A second ambulance was just arriving to transport him to the hospital – Ben would stay with him until someone came to question him. Fletcher walked back over to where Foster was still stood and waited until she hung up the phone.

"Fletch you need to get checked out, why don't you go with the paramedics to the hospital," Foster suggested, turning round to face her partner.

"I'm fine Laura, we need to stay here and process all of this," he insisted. Laura sighed; she knew he was going to be difficult, even with a gunshot wound in the shoulder.

"I've called in for another backup team and a forensics team to go over the house, as soon as they come I'm taking you to the hospital myself to get that hole in your shoulder looked at."

"Fine," Fletcher sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to change her mind. They were both as stubborn as each other, but that's why they fit so well. He followed her into the warehouse through the open metal door picking up a pair of gloves as they entered.

* * *

Booth sunk into one of the hard plastic seats in the hospital waiting room, his head hitting his hands. He had washed off the blood off of his hands and face in the hospital bathrooms but there was still a large blood stain on his shirt – her blood.

Brennan was in surgery, the doctors had taken her straight there as soon as they had parked up in the ambulance. Obviously one of the paramedics had called ahead and warned them about the patient with a gunshot wound to the chest. A number of doctors and nurses had been waiting for their arrival since they had gotten the call. One of the nurses had promised to keep him updated after seeing his reluctance to let go of her hand but had also promised that she was in the best hands.

The same nurse had come and notified him fifteen minutes after taking her away to let him know what was going to happen next. Apparently, the bullet had just missed her heart, nicking the aorta as it passed, and was still embedded in the surrounding tissue. She had told him the surgery could take hours meaning she may not be able to update him frequently, also reminding him that no news was good news – if nobody had told him anything in a while, it at least meant she was still alive.

He had called Angela five minutes earlier to let her know what had happened. Immediately she had wanted to rush over there to support her friend but he has told her to stay put – she would be more use over there. The FBI should be finished looking over the warehouse and he wanted them to process what evidence they found at the Jeffersonian. He had also asked her to send Hodgins over to the crime scene so that he could make sure that everything was collected. Angela had reluctantly agreed but making him promise to keep her updated before she hung up the phone.

* * *

Hours later, Hodgins trudged back into the Jeffersonian with a box full of evidence bags in his hands; four FBI agents followed him in carrying several boxes of their own. Cam met them at the entrance, shocked at the amount that they had found – she hadn't expected anything to have been let alone five boxes full.

"The warehouse was full of evidence, they left it all behind for us to find, how lucky are we?" Hodgins asked sarcastically, setting the box he was carrying on the floor by his feet to give his arms a break.

Fletcher and Foster entered the lab, walking towards the two of them. Hodgins asked the other agents to take the boxes up onto the platform while he waited for the two agents so that he only had to explain it once.

"The warehouse was a mess; there was stuff left all over the place, particulates everywhere. I don't think they took anything but people with them – who were being kept in several rooms at the back of the warehouse," he began as Fletcher and Foster stopped beside them. "Five of them boxes are for me to sort through, one's for you Cam with blood samples from one of the rooms and the others have two laptops and a memory card with the crime scene photos on for Angela to look at."

"Right, well I better get on with looking at those blood samples," acknowledged Cam looking back at the box that waited for her on the platform.

"Actually, you've got a little more than blood samples. We found a body in one of the rooms, he's not in any of the pictures we've seen and he wasn't on the list of people we came up with either."

"Blood samples and an autopsy, I better get started then. I'll let you know as soon as I've finished," she promised as she made her way up onto the platform. She would start running the blood samples while she waited for the body to arrive.

"How's your arm Agent Fletcher? Looks painful," Hodgins commented looking at the sling his arm was now in.

"It's nothing; got an x-ray, a few stitches and now it's all wrapped up. Think I annoyed the nurses though," he laughed.

"You did ignore her when she said you needed rest before returning to work, numerous times. I think she was glad when you finally left, even if it was against the doctor's orders," Foster added.

"No time to rest," he argued back, but the smirk on his face showed he wasn't being serious with her.

"You got that right, I'm gonna start looking at the evidence or I'll be here all night," admitted Hodgins. "Would you take Angela's box to her, she's in her office I think. I'll warn her she's not in the best mood; she's worried for Dr. B."

"Sure." The two agents watched as Hodgins stepped onto the platform and began to sift through the boxes trying to find the best plan of working through it. They followed Hodgins up the platform, the guard at the bottom swiping his card to allow them access, grabbed the box and headed in the direction of Angela's office.

The office was silent when they entered, Angela was sitting on the sofa staring at several photos which she held in her hand.

"Um, Miss Montenegro," Fletcher called hesitantly as he knocked on the door with his good hand.

"Yeah? You back already?" Angela asked as she turned round to face them, putting the pictures beside her on the sofa.

"Yeah, we brought you two laptops and some crime scene photos to look at, thought it might cheer you up," joked Fletcher noticing the sad, distant look on her face.

"Thank you, just what I always wanted," she said, carrying on the joke. "You can come in you know," she laughed getting up off of the sofa over to where the computer was. The two agents followed her in, Foster putting the box down on a free table next to the computer.

"I'm going to leave Fletcher here with you as he's supposed to be resting while I go back to the hospital to talk to one Christopher Smith, the man that was captured at the warehouse," she said as she turned to leave the room.

"Laura," Angela called, stopping her in by the doorway. "Would you try and get an update from Booth while you're there, he hasn't called yet," she asked timidly.

"Sure, I'm sure he just forgot that's all," she assured with a smile as she left the office.

* * *

Brennan had just gotten out of surgery and the nurses were just wheeling her back to a room while the doctor was giving Booth an update.

"We managed to retrieve the bullet from her chest and repair the damaged that it caused, she'll need to take care and make sure she has a lot of rest but she'll make it. She should be her normal self soon," the doctor assured as he patted Booth reassuringly on the shoulder. Booth thanked him before making his way to Brennan's room, she was still in ICU for the time being but the doctor had said they would move her when she awoke.

He paused in front of her door, his hand on the door handle ready to open it. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he would see when he opened the door but he was still shocked at the sight in front of him. Brennan was laying on the bed with numerous tubes coming to and from her body. In that moment, she didn't look like the Bones that he had known for five years, right now she looked thin, pale, vulnerably, deathly. He moved to the side of her bed, pulling the chair in the room as close as he could and took her limp hand in his own kissing the top as he sat down.

However long it would take, he told himself that he would stay by her side until she awoke so that she would have someone she recognised when she did. He couldn't even think about leaving her alone in the room she didn't look strong enough to handle waking up alone. She didn't look strong at all, not like she did before she had been shot.

* * *

Laura Foster walked down the hallway towards ICU, the doctor she had just asked had informed which room Dr. Brennan was in. Just like she had promised Angela she was going to get an update from Booth. Chris Smith had given her little information when she had talked to him, only that they were moving to a new place since they had led the others to the old one. However, he had confirmed that the the four _prisoners _they had taken with them were Andrew Kent and his three children Georgia, Amie and Ben.

She entered the hospital room to find Brennan still asleep on the bed while Booth sat beside her with his head on the side of the bed, her hand in his.

"Booth," she announced softly. He raised his head and smiled softly at her, still not letting go of his partners hand. "Angela wanted an update, you didn't call," she clarified.

"Damn, I forgot about that, tell her I'm sorry when you next see her. Other than that there's not much to say, the doctor removed the bullet, fixed anything it hit and now we're waiting for her to wake up. The doctors say she should be fine, we've just got to wait until she wakes up which is all up to her," he briefly explained. "How are the squints doing?"

"At least she's alive," Foster assured him. "The _squints _are processing the evidence that was found which will probably take them a while and Cam is performing an autopsy on a body which was found in the warehouse, last time I checked they'd not got an ID."

"Thank you."

"No problem Booth. Well I better get going, hopefully someone will have found something by the time I get back, I'll keep you updated," she promised turning to leave the room.

"Me too," Booth vowed, as he turned back to focus his attention on Brennan, who was still sleeping heavily.

* * *

"Password," a small voice shouted from the other side as Tommy banged on the door. They had arrived back to the pub fifteen minutes after leaving the scene, the car ride had been silent. All of them had been worried about both Brennan and Charlie who had still not returned. Tommy sighed, he, as well as Max, had forgotten about the password they had created shortly before leaving but obviously the children hadn't and were still obeying what he had told them earlier.

"Eagle-fish," Freddie yelled back through the door. Tommy laughed, obviously he had remembered. The lock clicked and the door swung open to reveal a smiling Zach. The smile on his face suddenly fell as he noticed there were only three people in front of him and not five like there had been when they left – his mummy and Uncle Charlie were missing from the group.

"Where's mummy," he asked, fear in his voice, as the three men walked through the door and locked it again behind them.

"Zach, um, your mummy got hurt while we were out so she had to go to the hospital to get better," explained Freddie bending down to be closer to Zach's height.

"Is she okay?" he cried, tear beginning to trail down his face. Freddie pulled him towards him, wrapping his arms around him to pull him into a hug.

"I don't know Zach, but I'm sure she will be," he assured, not wanting to lie to the young boy. Brennan had always said that it wasn't right to lie to children, that they deserved to know the truth.

"And then she'll come back?" he asked, sobs racking his small frame.

"Of course she'll come back numpty," he laughed, kissing the boys forehead. Freddie kept him in his arms as he stood up, letting the boy cry into his shoulder, wincing at the pain his arm gave him.

He walked over to where Tommy and Max stood, they had just explained to the elder Zach what had happened letting him know that Charlie would be arriving back soon. News about Brennan wasn't likely to come any time soon, they had seen the shot knowing instantly that she would most likely need surgery which could take a few hours.

"We've got a few hours of waiting ahead of us so it's probably for the best that we shower and change into some clean clothes. Then we can at least get a better look at your arm," Max decided as he dumped the bag they had took with them on the floor.

The other three men agreed, allowing Freddie to shower first so that they could look at him arm better while they informed the children what happened while they were gone. Billy had allowed them to use his shower upstairs while they were there, all they had to do was try to get past customers in the pub without being noticed which was sometimes easier said than done.

A few hours later all three men had showered and changed into clean clothes. Tommy had looked at Freddie's arm while Max had showered, he had asked Zach to look at his arm to make sure that no bones were broken. Thankfully, Zach had said there wasn't and advised that they bandaged it, keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn't need stitches. Tommy agreed as he had wrapped a fresh bandage around his arm.

Everyone was sat around the small TV screen watching a cartoon that the two younger children liked when there was a knock at the door, shocking them all.

"Eagle-fish," they head from the other side. Charlie was back and he had remembered the silly password they had made up earlier. Max got up to open the door for him, locking it behind him again once he had entered.

"Took you long enough to get back, we thought you'd got caught," admitted Tommy as he got up to talk to the two other men.

"Sorry, I followed the ambulance Tempe was in to the hospital and waited around a while to get some information. The nurse I talked to before I left said that everything was going fine, the doctor had just removed the bullet and was repairing whatever it had damaged, just missed her heart I think she said. She said that Tempe was doing just fine," he reassured them, recalling everything the nurse had told him. "She also gave me a number for the doctor to phone him later with any questions, she said surgery could take a few more hours," he explained as he handed Max a number.

Some of the worry that covered his face was lifted as he heard the news that his daughter was doing fine.

"Thanks Charlie."

"Now you need to go and get a shower, 'cause you stink," joked Tommy. "We all had one earlier and we've took another look at Freddie's arm. It looks fine, Dr. Zach over there says we need to keep an eye on it but it'll be okay for now," he explained.

"Good." He grabbed a towel from the suitcases which lined one of the walls and headed for the door. "Lock it behind me will ya, I still remember the password."

"That makes two of us," Freddie shouted from where he sat, he had eavesdropped on the conversation, glad that Temperance was doing okay.

* * *

Booth watched as the nurse checked Brennan's vitals once again. She smiled at him, assuring him that she was fine, that she was just letting her body to repair before she woke up. He still held her hand in his as he kissed her forehead, willing her to wake up. The nurse smiled at the two partners, never as her time as a nurse seen a work partner that acted the way Booth did around his partner.

Booth didn't notice as the nurse slipped out of the room. He brushed her hair away from her face, kissing her forehead once again.

"You need to wake up for me Bones, I can't live without you around. So you need to wake up 'cause I still didn't give you permission," he whispered into her ear before sitting back down in the chair. "The doc says you're okay which is good. I was really proud of you out there you know, the way you took down that man. I mean I hated seeing you with a gun 'cause I'm supposed to shoot and you cuff 'em but I was really proud. You know that right," he admitted, kissing her hand before continuing. "I _really _need you to wake up Bones, just remember that and wake up for me. I love you."

* * *

**Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it :). Let me know what you think; both good and bad :) **

**~Littlemiss :) **


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter :) School sucks! That's all I'm gonna say :L. **

**Don't own Bones - Never have and probably never will :( **

*****Chapter Twenty-One*****

Two days had passed since the shooting at the warehouse and Brennan had still not awoke, Booth still sat by her beside just like he had been for 48 hours, only leaving once when Cam and Angela had forced him to go home and get a shower literally pushing him out of the door. Angela had stayed to keep an eye on Brennan while he was gone, promising to call him if anything changed. By the time he came back, just 20 minutes later, Brennan was still the same; still laid in the hospital bed in a light blue hospital gown with tubes surrounding where she slept, at least there were less of them now.

Angela left the room as he entered, quietly mentioning that she was going back to the Jeffersonian to see if they had anything new, promising to call him if they had. Booth sat down in the chair she had previously occupied, immediately taking Brennan's hand in his – where it belonged – sighing as he kissed the top, as if silently letting her know he was back. Doctors constantly told him that she would wake up when she was ready, that as long as she was sleeping she was alive, she was healing. But as much as Booth wanted her to heal, he wanted her to open her eyes even more. To look up at him with those blue eyes of hers and tell him everything would be all right.

He gazed out of the hospital window looking down at the city surrounding them, the sun was about to set lighting the dark room with a reddish glow. Cars and people rushed around on the streets below as he sat, all of them carrying on with their own lives, not bothering to think about anyone else they were walking along the streets with – right now they were probably more concerned about getting home to their families or their pets or maybe even an empty apartment.

He watched as the sky went black and street lamps turned on, as people started to turn off the office lights ready to go home after a long day's work. Before all of this had started, back when everything was 'normal', he would've been heading to the Founding Fathers with his favourite anthropologist or off to the diner for a late tea or even heading to Wong Fu's to pick up a takeaway to eat at one of their apartments with a movie. But back then he hadn't fully realised that he loved her that he wanted to spend forever with her. Now he had.

Once again he had fallen asleep in the chair with his head on the edge of the hospital bed, waking up to the painful stabbing in his back. Throughout the day the pain had lessened, pushed to the back of his mind as he focussed on what was happening with the woman in front of him.

Dr. Riley, the doctor who had performed the surgery, had been in earlier in the afternoon to check up on Brennan, checking the nurses' chart while making a few observations of his own. He had removed the tube down her throat which had been helping her breath once he had determined that she was breathing on her own. Afterwards, he had smiled reassuringly at Booth and then left. Several nurses had also been in and out of the room, checking her vitals and making sure she was properly medicated – Booth noted that no two nurses had been the same, each time there had been a different nurse.

The clock to his left read 8.02pm, to his right lay the leftovers from the food that Angela had brought up an hour or two ago. Booth sighed as he looked at Brennan, still in her peaceful sleep, unaware of the world around her. Or maybe she was aware; maybe she could hear everything going on around, hear the words that were being said to her.

He thought he had imaged it when he felt the slight twitch of her finger in his hand, but the flutter of her eyes made him realise the reality in front of him. After three agonisingly slow days, Dr. Temperance Brennan was finally waking up. His Bones was waking up.

"Hey sleepy head, welcome back," he whispered as she took in her new surroundings. The initial worry of where she was when she first woke up disappeared as she heard his voice.

"I'm sorry... Booth," she choked her voice still raspy. Booth helped her take a sip of water, bringing the yellow straw to her mouth. "I'm sorry… for everything, Booth," she repeated, her voice a little stronger.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Bones, you hear me? Nothing," he assured, only to fall on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry, Booth, I'm sorry," she murmured over and over again, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, shh, it's okay Bones, everything's okay," he reassured, kissing her on the forehead lightly. The wires and the tubes still attached to his body prevented him from hugging her properly but he tried his best in the situation, trying to calm her down slightly. "I'm just gonna nip out and let the doctor know okay? I'll be right back," he promised, once her tears subsidised slightly.

He had left the room no more than five minutes, returning back with the doctor, but by the time he had Brennan had changed. The only trace of tears was her slightly red eyes; she was now laid on the bed letting the doctor check her over while she stared ahead at the wall in front of her. He stayed silent, waiting quietly for the doctor to leave at the other side of the room.

"Everything's looking fine Dr. Brennan; the incision is healing nicely, your results came back earlier and they're looking perfectly good too. In a little while I'll get one of the nurses to move you from ICU," he assured as he put away her chart at the foot of the bed. Brennan nodded, moving her gaze from the wall to where her hands fiddled with the hem of the bed sheets.

"When will I be able to go home?" she enquired just before the doctor was about to leave, surprising them both by actually talking.

"Depending on how you're feeling, you should be able to go home in the next few days as long as you promise to get lots of rest and come in for regular check-ups for the first few weeks. You won't be stuck in here long," he promised. She nodded once again, realising this was the only response he would get, the doctor left through the door leaving the two of them alone once again.

"See you won't have to stay here with the crappy hospital food for long," Booth began as he made his way back to her bed. She stayed silent her eyes refusing to meet his. Booth sat down back in the chair he had occupied for the past few days grabbing the file that Cam had left for him when she had visited the previous night which held all the information the Squints had discovered up to now. "Agent Foster has spoken to the man that was captured at the warehouse – Freddie handcuffed him I think – he says that Andy and the three kids were being moved to a new place. Says he doesn't know the location but I'm sure he'll confess soon," he explained, hoping that telling her what they knew would get her to talk again. The warehouse was full of particulates for Hodgins, he's looking through about five boxes..."

"Booth, please," Brennan murmured cutting him off from what he was saying. "I'm sorry, I just... I just want to be alone for a while. I'm sorry," she whispered, finally looking at him in the eye if it was only for a brief moment.

"Bones, I'm not just gonna leave you here on you own. You've just woken up after being comatose for three days – I'm not leaving you," he argued, his heart breaking as he saw the look on her face – pleading with him to let her be on her own, to let her think about what was happening now. Her plan had changed and right now she didn't know what do or where to start. She was scared, even with Booth sitting right beside her. "Okay, fine but not for long. I'll go down to the cafeteria for a bit and ring Angela to tell them that you're awake. Call me if you need anything, okay?" he asked.

She nodded her head and watched as he unwillingly got up from his chair, placing the file on the cabinet beside her bed and made his way to the door. He looked over his shoulder to see her staring out of the window with glassy eyes. She heard the door click softly as he shut it behind him; now she was completely alone in the room, unsure of what to do next.

She needed to make sure if everybody had left the warehouse safely, she had heard the car drive away but anything could've happened after that. She worried over the possibilities of what might have happened, guilt rose inside of her as she remembered that it was her who had pulled her into all of this. She had brought them into something that wasn't their fight to win, but they still helped her anyway. However, she mostly felt guilty for her son; she had promised him that she would be back soon. That was three days ago. She had left him again.

Beside her laid a phone that Booth had left behind, her phone, where he had got it from she didn't know but right in that moment it didn't matter – she had a plan. Would it work? She didn't know, but it was worth a shot. She reached for the phone and dialled the familiar number she'd memorised only a few days ago.

_"Temperance? Tempe, is that you? How are you?_" the voice she could recognise anywhere asked from the other end of the line, worry thick in his voice.

"It's me and I'm fine dad, I just..."

_"Don't give me that Temperance, you got shot! What's wrong? What happened?"_

"I don't know, I just... I just want to get out. Can you pick me up? Booth's not here, neither are the FBI, you won't get caught I promise. I just want to get home and see my son," she admitted.

_"Where are you?"_ he asked, after a few seconds. Brennan had heard him turn the phone on speaker so that the others could hear her.

"I.C.U, it's on the third floor."

_"Max, we could do this; we pick Tempe up, grab some supplies for both her and Fred and then we get out. No one will know we were there,"_ she heard Tommy suggest.

_"And we'll make sure she gets lots of rest, I doubt we'll be leaving here any time soon," _added Charlie.

_"We'll be there in twenty minutes," _Max sighed, knowing he wouldn't win the argument, no matter how much he wanted to stay in the hospital and get better first.

"Thank you," she whispered as the simultaneously hung up the phone.

* * *

Just as he promised, twenty minutes later Max calmly strolled into her hospital room as though there were nobody out looking for them. Of course, on the inside they were both constantly looking in every direction to make sure nobody had seen them; their calm exterior was so that nobody would notice them – so that they could blend in with the crowd. Charlie followed closely behind him, shutting the door as soon as they entered.

"Cars outside the entrance, we've not got long; five minutes max," Charlie said as he neared the bed behind Max.

"You sure you're well enough to leave?" he asked again, hesitant to give her the bag. "We can leave right now like nothing ever happened if you've changed your mind."

"No, I'm sure. I want to get out," she assured as she began to get out of the bed. Max nodded and dropped the bag on the bed.

"There's a few of your clothes in there, I just grabbed whatever I could find, I'll look less suspicious this way," he said. "However, we're still gonna have to take that IV out of your arm. Charlie's gonna do it okay?" She nodded her head, holding out her arm for Charlie and bracing herself for the slight pain. She winced and grabbed Max's arm as it was pulled from her arm, Charlie immediately stopped any bleeding with a plaster he'd pulled from him back pocket. Obviously they'd come prepared.

As soon as it was done Charlie turned around to face the wall, Max soon copied him – not before smiling reassuringly at his daughter – to give her some privacy while she changed.

Brennan smiled at the two older men as she fumbled with the clothes, it took her longer than normal to get changed but she was done in under two minutes.

"Done," she announced. The two men turned around and moved so that they were at either side of her – just in case she needed any support while they walked out through the hospital.

"Off we go then, hopefully Tommy will be back at the car by the time we get there."

"Tommy's here?" she asked, surprised that all three of them were in the open.

"Well we needed some things to help us look after our two patients," joked Charlie as they left the room.

* * *

Thankfully, getting back to the pub had been a piece of cake. They had left the hospital with no one noticing them, Tommy meeting them back at the car just like they had planned. Nobody had stopped them or even looked at them as they walked past and they had heard no alarm for a missing patient. On the car ride home Brennan hadn't stopped yawning but she refused to sleep, wanting to see her son before she did anything else.

They walked slowly down the steps towards the basement, it was just past 11pm and the bar was full of customers all too drunk to even notice them. Tommy and Charlie entered the room first, letting them know that they were back and that Brennan was with them but still not well. Max stayed behind to help his daughter down the stairs.

Zach was waiting patiently at the door for his mum, watching carefully as she took one step at a time.

"I missed you mummy," he admitted as she reached the bottom, a big smile spread across his face. "I drew you lots of drawings to make you feel better."

"Thank you," she whispered, uncomfortably bending down to hug her son in the doorway. She stood up again and walked further into the room so that they could safely shut the door.

"You gonna get some rest now?" Max suggested after locking the door.

"I want to quickly look through the file I brought, it's got everything they found at the lab. Booth left it me earlier and I managed to slip it in the bag before we left," she explained.

"Tempe, that can wait. You need to rest for a bit, it's been a hectic hour for you," Charlie admitted.

"I'll only look for a little while, I then I'll sleep, I promise. If I look at it now, I'll be able to sleep better and for longer later," she reasoned. "Please."

"You've got half an hour," Max agreed, passing her the bag that held the file. She took it off him and walked over to the sofa's, allowing Zach to come with her – not wanting it any other way.

She settled down at the end of the sofa, her legs perched on the coffee table in the middle and Zach curled up at her side as she opened the file. She set off working through the results, a pen and a pad of paper beside her so that she could translate it all so that the others would be able to understand it later.

The body that had been found in the room covered in blood had been identified; Cam had matched his DNA to a Steve Rosher – a unfamiliar name to Brennan. She had also confirmed that Georgia's and Andy's blood had been found among the splatters of Rachel's and the other three children's' blood. It had been the murderer's 'torture room', a thought that had chilled Brennan to the bone, anger rising in her chest trying to break through her calm exterior. Hodgins had confirmed there belief's that they were all kept there, something they already knew but now they could prove it as well in court. His report said that he was still looking through the particulates, several times saying that there were lots of them. It took her several minutes to get comfortable but as soon as she did, she was fast asleep murmuring a quiet 'good night' to her.

"Night mummy, I love you," Zach whispered back, moving so that he could kiss her forehead just like she did to him before snuggling into her side and falling into a deep sleep himself.

**

* * *

Thanks for reading :). Let me know what you think; good and bad :). **

**~LittleMiss :P**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks to all who read and reviewed the last chapter :). This one's a little shorter than usual but I just wanted to get something written to post. The reason for this is because I'm going to Iceland in, roughly, 10 hours :D I'm unbelievable excited, I'm going with school - some of my Biology class - and I just can't wait :D I'm going for 5 days, coming back in the early hours of Tuesday morning so there's going to be no updates over the weekend. As soon as I've recovered (we're doing a lot of walking and science-y stuff) I'll get another chapter written :) **

**As always, I don't own Bones :(**

*****Chapter Twenty-Two*****

Another two days had passed and Brennan was doing fine; she was healing just as expected, they weren't doctors but they thought it was a good sign that she was looking happy again. However, Max was still worried that she wouldn't heal properly in the room they were in – all eight of them cramped up in a small room in the basement of the pub. They needed to do something, Max thought. Something that involved them getting away from the small room, even if it was just temporary. Neither Brennan nor Freddie were well enough to start searching for a new place right now.

It was 14:10 and the sun was shining through the car windows as they drove down the road. Brennan was in the passenger seat and Freddie, Zach and Dylan in the back seats. Max had decided that they all needed some fresh air to help them heal, and the two youngest children could do with letting off some energy. A small unknown park was the first thing that he had thought of as they had climbed into the car so that's where they were heading to.

As soon as they had arrived, Dylan and Zach had ran off towards the playground promising to stay in sight the whole time and not wander off. Max, Brennan and Freddie had taken their time to walk to a bench close by to the playground, shaded from the sun by trees. Each of them enjoying the sun on their faces and the slight breeze around them. None of them said a word to the other, no words needed to be said, all of them enjoying the quiet atmosphere in the wide open.

Only an hour after they had arrived, Zach and Dylan had come bounding over to where they sat begging for ice cream from a nearby van that had just pulled up.

"Pretty please mummy! Can we have an ice cream, please!" pleaded Zach, showing her the biggest smile he could manage to try and persuade her.

"Please Auntie Tempe!" Dylan added, smiling also.

"Fine," laughed Brennan, smiling at the happiness radiating from her son. A kind that she had not seen in a while. "You two want anything?" she asked Max and Freddie as she grabbed her purse from her bag.

"No thanks, Tempe," Max declined. She waited until Freddie shook his head before taking off after the two boys who had headed in the direction of the van.

She had paid for the two ice creams, handing one to each of the boys and putting her change in her purse when she heard her nickname shouted. She smiled at the name, before the realisation hit her – someone who knew her was here, they were about to be caught.

"Dr. Bones!" After a deep breath to calm her nerves, she recognised the voice that was shouting her. Parker Booth. The son of the person she loved. "Dr. Bones," he shouted again, this time closer than before. She turned around, seeing the young boy run towards her a smile grew on her face.

"Hey Parker," she greeted, keeping her voice as normal as possible, as he got close enough for her not to have to shout.

"Hi Dr. Bones, how are you? Dad said you were sick," he questioned, curiosity in his eyes; his dad had told him she was sick and that's why she wasn't around but she looked fine as she stood in front of him.

"I'm fine, the doctor said I've just got to rest a lot. What about you, how are you?"

"I'm great, I've just been to the best party ever and now mum brought me to the park! How cool is that?"

"That is pretty cool," she agreed, smiling down at the eight-year-old.

"Huh huh, I'm really glad you're okay Dr. Bones, it wouldn't be that fun without you. And daddy would miss you all the time, like he does now."

"I miss your dad a lot too, but I've got to sort a few things out before I see him again," she admitted. "I've hurt him too much to go back with things left unfinished."

"Is that why you left the hospital on your own?" he asked.

"Yes, but I promise I'll come back as soon as it's finished. I've missed you too much," she laughed, lightening the slightly tense mood.

"We've missed you too," he said before wrapping his arms around her waist. It took a minute for Brennan to realise what he was doing but once she did she crouched down and hugged him properly. "You'll come back soon," he asked.

"I promise," she whispered back. They hugged for a little bit longer until they heard Rebecca calling her sons name. Brennan stood up and walked Parker over to where his mother was shouting him.

"Parker! You nearly gave me a heart attack when I couldn't find you, where were you?" Rebecca questioned, breathing heavily as she got over the shock of losing her son.

"Sorry mum, I saw Dr. Bones over by the ice cream van and I went to talk to her," Parker apologised, looking sheepishly at the floor.

"Just don't do it to me again, now go and play," she sighed, shaking her head at her son. Parker didn't need to be told twice, as soon as his mum had said it he had ran towards the playground; playing was a lot more fun than being punished.

"I'm sorry about that, I should have made sure you knew where he was when I first saw him," Brennan said.

"It's not your fault, boys will be boys, you'd think I'd get used to it by now," she laughed.

"But it's the worst feeling in the world when you think you've lost your son," Brennan finished for her, knowing the feeling well.

"Yeah." Truthfully, Rebecca was surprised to see Dr. Brennan there at all and had no idea what to say. Seeley had told her that she was on the run with her father or something and had gone into hiding to find a murderer. That was the only thing he had told her when she had demanded some answers the previous weekend. She didn't know a lot about it, but she would've thought that being in hiding didn't involve trips to the park. "So, what are you doing in the park this afternoon, last time I heard you were in the hospital," she asked, the curiosity getting the better of her.

"It's complicated," Brennan sighed.

"That's what Seeley says every time I ask him too." Brennan smiled, at the mention of Booth.

"I want to just go home, just walk back into the Jeffersonian where everyone else will be and let things go back to normal but I can't just yet. Things need to be sorted out before I can go back. As I said, it's complicated," she tried to explain as briefly as possible hoping that Rebecca would understand so that she wouldn't have to go into the details.

"I understand, there's just some things that can't be left unfinished," the woman empathised.

"Mum!" Zach yelled from the other side of the park, catching her attention. She turned around to look in his direction to see her son waving her over wanting her to go back to the bench.

"I've got to go. Hopefully, I'll see you again sometime," Brennan said. Rebecca nodded.

"Yeah I'll see you around." She watched as Brennan walked off towards to boy that had just shouted her, one thought running through her head; since when did Dr. Brennan have a son?

* * *

Things were silent again at the Jeffersonian; people just got on with what they were meant to do, exchanging only required information with no need or want for small talk. It had been like that ever since the news that Brennan was gone again had gotten back to the lab.

Booth had gone back to her hospital room exactly an hour later like he had promised to find her bed empty – the IV line and the hospital gown lying side by side. Immediately, he had phone Fletcher and Foster to tell them what had happened but his gut had reassured him that she was fine. His head screamed at his that she was gone but he listened to his heart that told him she was fine. That she had left of her own accord. Later, the squints had proved his hearts theory.

Hodgins had lifted fingerprints from the room which had matched both Max Keenan and Charlie Jones. Angela had also looked through security tapes from different cameras around the hospital, eventually building the route they had taken to get out without being noticed. Unfortunately for them they had been unable to see how they had gotten away after they had left the hospital. They hadn't seen them drive away in a car or a taxi. At least they knew she was in good hands, even though she had gone back with her father instead of staying with them. They knew she would have some rational answer for them which they wouldn't be able to find on their own – it was just the way her mind worked.

The next day they had also received the reports from the hospital that supplies were missing from a storage room near the I.C.U; bandages, gauze, butterfly stitches etc were missing. At least they were making requirements to take care of her, Booth's gut rationalised for him.

After that they had gone back to what they had been doing before – back to the evidence from the warehouse but this time in silence. That was until Parker Booth came running through the doors, out of breath and shouting for his dad.

"Daddy! Dad! Dad!" he yelled as he ran through the door to the lab alerting everyone in a five mile radius. He wasn't looking where he was going, looking up around him hoping to find his dad soon, causing him to run straight in to Cam who had been about to go up onto the platform. "D'ya know where my dad is?" he asked urgently, needing to see his dad as soon as possible to tell him the news.

"Right here bud, what's up? Where's the fire?" Booth asked as he walked out of Angela's office after hearing his son's yells. His head had immediately jumped to something wrong with Rebecca, calming slightly when he saw her rush through the doors following her son. Losing him for the second time that day was definitely not on her agenda for that day.

"No fire dad," he began, breathing heavily. It took him a few moments for him to catch his breath but when he did a huge smile spread across his face. "I saw Dr. Bones at the park today," he grinned.

* * *

**That's all for today, let me know what you thought of it :D. As I said before, I'll try and get another chapter up as soon as I've recovered :D **

**~LittleMiss :) **


	23. Chapter 23

**Wow! I haven't written anything in months! And I'm sorry for that life just got in the way once again; school and I had literally zero free time! Schools hectic at the minute, I've got my AS exams soon so I'm doing revision 24/7 but somehow I've scheduled some time to write some more of this story, I couldn't just leave it unfinished. **

**I've already started working on the next chapter, I'm 100 words in so I should have it finished soon :). However, I'm going on an over-night psychology course Sunday/Monday so if I don't have it done today it'll be Tuesday :). Thanks to everyone who's sticking with this story, I know it's not the best and the updates are ridiculously all over the place, so thanks :)**

**All mistakes are my own :) **

*****Chapter Twenty-Three*****

"_I saw Dr. Bones at the park today," he grinned. _

Booth's whole world stopped at his son's few words, _his _Bones had been at the park. She was perfectly fine, if she had gone to the park it meant she was healthy, right? She was fine. The last time he had seen her was right before she had left the hospital, weak and upset. Some might have even said broken. But now she was going to the park on a sunny day, just like any other parent, and acting completely healthy; he didn't know whether to be relieved or angry.

"You... you s-sure it was Bones, bud?" he stammered, realising the world around him hadn't stopped with him and his son in front of him was still expecting some sort of reply.

"Yep, I saw her get some ice creams and then we talked," he explained innocently.

"And she's okay? She looked fine?" Booth questioned, trying not to scare Parker but also trying to get the answers he needed. All of the squints had gathered around them, all wanting to hear what Parker had to say, all nervous about what could have happened at the park. Sure Parker had said she was fine, but Brennan could hide her true feelings to everyone. Everyone except Booth.

"Yes dad, she said she was fine... but she did look a little upset," he admitted after thinking about it more carefully, the excitement beginning to wear down. "The people she was with looked nervous too, but Dr. Bones didn't. She just looked sad and maybe a little tired. But that's why the doctor told her to rest, that's what she said anyway."

Booth glanced across to Cam, who instantly read his mind. They needed to make sure that Brennan was still with the _right_ people. Without Parker noticing, she walked off to her office where the case files were.

"Yeah, the doctor told her to get some rest, Parks," Booth reassured him "What else did the two of you talk about then?"

"I told her I'd been to Jamie's birthday party and she agreed with me that it was cool that I could come to the park too. She said that she misses you too and she promised that she'd come back soon. She promised. And then mom talked to her when I went to play on the playground, but she had to go after that 'cause one of the boys on the playground shouted her and she had to go home."

"That's all?" Booth pushed, trying to get as much information as he could out of the young boy.

"Yes. Dad what's wrong, you're worrying me. Did I do something wrong?" he feared, picking up on his fathers weird behaviour.

"What? No, bud, you've done nothing wrong," he reassured, crouching down and pulling him into a hug. "You've done great, thank you," he whispered into his hair. They stayed like that for a while until he heard Cam approach.

He stood, and took the file she held out to him, the file on the all of the people who were helping Brennan; the other good guys in this messed up case.

"Parker, I need you to do one more thing for me, okay?" he asked, turning slightly more serious again. He waited until he nodded before opening the file and retrieving the photos from inside. "I need you to tell me if any of these people were the men you saw with Bones today, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Parker nodded once again and Booth handed him the photos, allowing him to look through them at his own pace; carefully analysing every one. After a few agonising minutes Parker stopped looking, selected two of the photos and handed them back to Booth.

"It was those two, one I know was _her_ dad but I don't know who the other man was – that's a picture of him though. Those are the two men she was at the park with."

Booth looked at the photos instantly recognising them; he knew Max of course, but the other man he knew hardly anything about. He was an old friend of Brennan's, someone that was helping her solve this case but someone neither him nor the squints knew about.

"It's Max and Freddie. She's still with them," Booth assured. A unanimous sigh of relief came from everyone who surrounded them, all glad that she was at least safe with people that she trusted. He was too caught up in the squints' new plan of action that he barely heard his son's quiet questions as he carried on looking at one of the photos from the file.

"Does Dr. Bones really have a son?"

Booth looked down at the picture he was holding, the only photo they had of Zach, his son's face was a picture of confusion. He looked up at Rebecca, who was just as confused as her son with the situation but masking it easily.

"Yeah bud, is that the boy you saw at the playground?" Parker nodded.

"Why did she lie, didn't she trust us enough?" he asked solemnly, not taking his eyes off of the photo. Booth lifted his son's chin up by his finger, just like he had done with Bones all those years ago, so that he could look him in the eye.

"I don't know why Parks, but I do know that it's not because she doesn't trust us okay? She was just scared," he said honestly, not knowing the truth himself but trying to give his son some sort of answer. Parker nodded, staying silent. Booth gathered him in his arms and picked him up so that he could carry him into Brennan's office where they could talk without everyone around them. He motioned for Rebecca to follow him, she deserved to know this too. There were too many secrets being held at the moment for Booth's liking.

* * *

An hour had passed since Booth had taken Parker into Brennan's office, he had tried to explain everything to him about the case without scaring him with the facts and leaving out the details of the murders. Thankfully, Rebecca had been patient knowing that he would talk to her afterwards with any other questions she had. Parker had had few questions other than if Dr. Bones would be all right and come back home in the end.

Parker had finally fallen to sleep while on Booth's knee, the day having been too long and tiring for his young self. Booth had laid him on Brennan's couch, covering him with the blanket which hung over the back, letting him sleep before walking over to where Rebecca stood at the opposite side of the office.

"You okay," he asked her.

"I should be the one asking you that Seeley. I mean it must be hard finding out that your _partner_ has a kid that you never knew about, one that she kept from you."

"She was scared," he said, instantly defending Bones. "She didn't choose this."

"I know, Seeley, I know. I'm just saying, it must be hard. On _everyone_, including her," she agreed, the concern and the sincerity evident in her voice.

"I'm sorry, it's just... It's been a long case, and with Bones not here, everything's just hard. Everyone just wants it to be over," he apologised, rubbing his face in his hand and taking a deep breath. "And it will be soon, we just need to find the connection between the murders and Brennan, there's something there. There's some big _truth_ that everybody's hiding, _that's _what we need to find out."

"And you will," Rebecca assured him. Booth smiled, leaving the conversation at that before it got awkward; Rebecca obviously still had questions, both about the case and his relationship with Bones – like always. Questions that he didn't want to answer right at that moment. He just needed an excuse to leave the room and go back to the squints.

Luckily, his phone began to ring stopping any attempts to carry on the conversation. Without looking, Booth flipped open the phone and put it to his hear.

"Booth," he answered. "Hello?" he asked, when he heard only silence from the other end of the phone. He tried checking the called ID, but sighed when it came up as 'unknown'. "Look, I haven't got time for this right now! Either say something, or I'm hanging up," he demanded down the phone, already heading to Angela's office to see if she would be able to trace the call. He stopped walking, still in Brennan's doorway as someone on the other end began to talk.

"_Agent Booth, no need to talk like that," _the voice of Charlie Jones emerged out of the silence.

"What's happened? Is Bones all right? What do you want?" he questioned, his mind immediately coming up with the worst case scenario; something had happened to Bones. That was the only plausible reason why Charlie Jones would risk calling him.

"_Nothing! No, nothing has happened to Temperance. I just need you to do something for me, something for Tempe," _ he said. Booth's concern still didn't go away, Bones needed something. And for some reason she couldn't call for it herself. He was concerned. Obviously he would do anything for Bones.

"What does she need?" he asked, trying to keep the upper hand in the situation and not to rush in and agree to anything like he wanted to.

"_Tempe's a mess; don't get me wrong she's getting better after being shot but her heads a mess. She just sits there, it's obvious she's missing you..." _the older man began to ramble. Booth heard rustling at the end of the phone as the phone was transferred to someone else.

"_Would you come see her, try and talk to her. Booth, man, this is a last resort. Trust me, this is the last thing we want to do; let Fed's know where we are. But she needs this, she hasn't been the same since we picked her up," _the voice of another man practically pleaded through the phone, presumably Freddie's.

"Of course," Booth agreed, still trying to act professional.

"_Thank you, Agent Booth. We didn't know what else to do and this may seem like a trap to you, but honestly it's not, we're just worried about her. You're the only one that understands her." _Booth was still shocked at the request and hadn't even thought about it being a trap like they had said; _Bones _were the only thoughts running through his head, his Bones needed him.

"It's no problem, where do I need to go?" he asked, not able to ask any of the questions he needed to know about Brennan or say any names because of both Rebecca and Angela who were standing beside him. Mentally, he stored the address that was being read out to him – she was still in D.C.

"_Someone will you meet you outside," _he said, before abruptly hanging up the phone.

Booth shut the phone and put it back in his pocket and looked up at the two women in front of him who both had questions.

"Just some FBI business that I need to sort out; I'll be back as soon as I can but ring me if you find anything. Please," he explained casually, hoping that they'd accept the lie.

"I will," Angela promised, moving out of his way so that he could get passed. He smiled at her before walking towards the exit, not wanting to move too fast to create any suspicion. But as soon as he was out of the building, he started to run towards his car. He was going to see Brennan and he was going to talk to her properly with nothing getting in their way.

He was going to see his Bones. Finally.

* * *

Just under an hour later, Booth arrived at the address he had been given. Pulling up in front of the old pub, he sat and looked at the place where they had been for the past week, wondering where they could've been staying in the small place, hidden away from all the customers.

It wasn't until now, sat in his SUV in front of the pub, that he realised the reality of the situation; it wasn't just another repeat of the dream he had been having for day, this was real. He was going to see his Bones. He was going to see her as soon as he got out of the car. He took several deep breaths with his head resting on the steering wheel to prevent the wave of nervousness that was threatening to show. Without having a chance to second think, he climbed out of the car locking it behind him and began walking forward.

As he neared Charlie came out to meet him half way, holding his gun in front of him as he looked around in all directions to make sure that Booth was alone. Booth was shocked, Charlie wasn't like what Booth expected; he didn't look like he had expected and he hadn't walked out of that door like he had expected either. Sure there was some resemblance to the photos he had seen of his around the FBI and in the files; but in person, he looked different. He looked older. He looked scared, and nervous, and on edge. Surely a man who had spent most of his life running from most of the federal agencies in American would look so scared and _on edge_. Surely, he'd been used to it.

"No one else here, just me," Booth stated, holding his hands up in a surrender like gesture. "I came alone," he reassured. Charlie looked around once more, concluded he was telling the truth and lowered his weapon, holstering it in the back of his trousers.

"Just had to make sure, Agent Booth," he said, the confidence in his voice not matching the confidence in his eyes.

"I know."

"Good. I'm gonna need your keys, your phone and your gun. Just in case of course," he laughed. For a moment Booth almost believed that he was no longer nervous but a flicker in his eyes told him that he was still watching his surroundings. He was always watching.

But this time he had help. Wordlessly and without complaint, Booth handed over what Charlie had just requested. For some odd reason, he trusted the man that stood in front of him. He trusted that he would be safe without his gun as he went into the pub.

As they walked through the door, Booth came face to face with Tom Edwards. Face to face with a man who was holding a rifle, at least he was _un_loading it and not aiming it at him.

"Just another precaution Agent Booth," Tommy murmured as he walked away from them, walking through another door passed the bar.

"It's fine."

Charlie locked the door behind them and silently began walking forward, heading in the same direction Tommy had gone in. The bar was empty apart from a single man stood behind the bar, cleaning glasses and keeping to himself. Booth quickly assumed that it was the owner and had obviously allowed them to stay here _or _they had threatened him with something to let them stay. Booth quickly followed behind Charlie, not wanting to get left behind. In a few moments, he was going to see Brennan. He was going to see her properly and be able to talk to her. He was going to see his Bones.

They walked through the door and down a set of stairs. It was eerily quiet in the pub; not even people's voices could be heard. The stairs creaked under each step he took, a sort of creepy rhythm forming as the walked down together.

"Welcome to our home," Charlie announced jokingly as they approached another door at the bottom of the stairs. The door was unlocked by someone on the other side and the three of them stepped in, the nervous feeling in the pit of Booth's stomach was returning and he had to take several deep breaths to keep it at bay. He entered behind Charlie and scanned the room, taking in everything.

In front of a small TV set sat Pete's three children as well as Brennan's son, all watching cartoons on the small screen. Max and Freddie sat nearby them, making sure that they were kept occupied if they lost interest in the show they were watching. The older Zach slept on a single mattress on the floor; sleeping peacefully as the world went on around him but Booth had known him for 3 years, he knew what he was like back then and he knew that his mind was probably still going a mile a minute even when asleep. Tommy had walked around him, grabbed the newspaper which was lying beside the door and sat down on one of the other mattresses which laid on the floor.

"She's over there. On the couch," murmured Charlie, before walking to join Tommy with the newspaper.

"Thanks."

Booth slowly made his way around to the couch, the few small steps seemed to take him forever but eventually he got there. He was stood directly in front of her as she sat on the couch; her legs curled up to her chest and her head down as she read over their case notes. Slowly, she raised her head to look at him in the eye.

In that moment, his heart broke.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I promise I'll get the next chapter up soon, I'm already working on it :). Look out for it Tuesday/Wednesday time :) **

**Please let me know what you thought of it good/bad and where you want it to go, what you want to happen :P**

**~Little Miss :) **


	24. Chapter 24

**It's me again! I said it'd be done by Tuesday and here it is xD... Well technically it's the early hours of Wednesday morning but I haven't been to sleep yet so I'll class it as Tuesday lol! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed my last chapter :) **

**Well, I think, this is kinda a breakthrough chapter; things are being revealed and things start to happen :). _I _feel as though the stories going somewhere again :). **

**I don't own Bones and any mistakes are my own. **

*****Chapter Twenty-Four*****

_In that moment, his heart broke. _

She looked up at him, her blue eyes full of raw emotions that had been locked away for weeks. She looked tired, she looked upset, she looked fragile. But, to Booth, she still looked beautiful.

"They called you then," Brennan observed, her voice trying to stay steady but he knew it was taking all her effort not to show _any_ of the emotions that were bottled up.

"Yeah, I would've been here sooner but I had to get away from the lab wi..." he began to apologise.

"I'm sorry, I told them not to call, I told them you'd be busy, I'm sorry," she admitted, her voice cracking on the last apology.

Booth quickly gathered the papers she held and put them on the table in front of them before sitting down beside her and gently pulling her onto his lap, trying not to catch her injuries.

"I'm not, I missed you," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. It took her a minute to adjust to what had just happened but once she did she uncharacteristically, and maybe unconsciously, leant into his chest.

"I'm sorry Booth," she murmured.

"I know, I know, but you have to remember that none of this was your fault, okay? It's not your fault and we can still do something to fix this," he assured, not wanting to rush into asking her to come back. He needed to do this slowly, he needed to do it right.

"How?" she asked, barely audible. She cleared her throat, still fighting back the uncharacteristic tears. She wouldn't show her emotions, her deepest feelings, that's what kept getting her hurt. "Everything's a mess, we just need to finish what we're doing and get back to normal. Back to the way things used to be."

"Things are never going to be _normal_ again, Bones," he interrupted.

"They will be. We... I need them to be normal again."

"I don't, sure I want us to go back to being partners, solving murders and giving people answers but you now have a _son_, a son who shouldn't be kept a secret any more. A son who should get to be with his _biological _mum."

"I don't want him to be my secret any more," she admitted, leaning back to look him in the eye to show her sincerity. "I don't want to let him go again."

"And you wont, you can take him home and let him live like any other boy his age, not on the run like this, always scared. And neither should Pete's kids. You're not going to leave them," he promised. Slowly, she nodded her head, trying to take in what he had just said.

"What about all the bad I've done?" she whispered.

"Nothings gonna happen to you Bones, I promise."

"But..."

"Nothing. Is. Going. To. Happen." Once again she stayed silent. She trusted Booth, she always trusted him, but still she was worried.

"What about everyone else?" she finally asked.

"I honestly don't know Bones," he replied truthfully. He wished he could tell her what she wanted to hear; that nothing would happen to them, that they could go on living their lives just like them, but he didn't know. He wouldn't, _couldn't_, give her _any_ false hope. They were wanted criminals.

"Oh," she sighed defeatedly. Usually her brain would compartmentalise everything that was going on, but right now she was having a hard time dong that. "They shouldn't be punished for my wars."

"So this is _your_ fight? You know who's behind it?" he questioned, hoping to get an insight into what was actually going on and what they knew while also getting her to realise that she wasn't alone.

"No."

"Then how do you know that it's your war?" he asked. The question threw her slightly, it was something that she wasn't expecting.

"I... I knew the truth, there's only a few people that do but... I knew. I kept it a secret for them."

"But was it your secret? You didn't have to do it."

"Yes, but Booth, you once told me that there were more than one type of family, and as a member of that family it was my job to keep it."

"So everyone in the family knew?" he asked. Suddenly, an idea came to mind, but he needed her to help. At the lab or at the Hoover Building, where they had access tot past records. And he need to know what this god damn truth was, he already suspected some of it anyway.

"Yes."

"Was there anyone who left the family?"

"What? Booth, how could anyone leave? They were just kids, they weren't old enough to leave home yet."

Booth's sudden spurt of inspiration had attracted the attention of Max, Charlie, Tommy and Freddie, who were making their way over to where they sat leaving strict instructions to the kids to keep watching TV. The older Zach, not knowing whether he should stay or go, lingered in the background.

"Bones, I don't know exactly what's going on or what happened in the past, but we do know that those kids aren't the biological children of Rachel and Andrew Kent."

"I should've guess that you'd have figured that out by now," she laughed, easing the tension as she tried to work herself up to telling him the secret that she'd kept for almost six years of her life. "They were... adopted."

"Adopted? But, there aren't any records of that, The records say that they are their children, but the biology doesn't. It doesn't make any sense," Booth stated, trying to wrap his head around what she had just told him and figure out how it was possible.

"It's... uhm, it's complicated, but..." she struggled. There was no right way to say it, no way she knew how that would still protect her friends.

"It was an easy way out... a quick adoption, mainly straight from birth which made the paperwork easier," Max helped out. He hadn't been _there_ with her when everything happened, but he had kept an eye on her while everything was being sorted out. She was his daughter, he had always been there. Somewhere.

"The parents handed Rach and Andy full parental rights and their names were put on the birth certificates. Andy's a lawyer which made things slightly easier for him but I doubt anyone knew about it at the office. They only did it with people they knew, people who needed a quick way out. They met before the birth so that they could talk things through and plan it all out, so they'd have time to decide and think about it. It wasn't exactly legal, but they're _good_ people Booth," she finished.

"Okay, so they _adopted_ children, quickly..." he re-stated slowly as he though about who would want to kill them and why.

"Yes Booth, that's what I just said." Booth smiled, she was starting to act like her old self again, the way he remembered his Bones.

"What if someone realised they'd made a wrong decision? What if they wanted their child back?"

"It was... reversible. It didn't happen while I knew them but I think it's happened before," she explained, trying to work through every conversation she'd had with the couple when they first met. When they explained to her what they did and how they could help.

"What if something happened to one of the children?" he asked.

"What? Of course a child is going to get injured... I mean, every..." she began, but then she understood what he meant and suddenly she too caught on to what he suspected. "There have only been two children that have died, that I know of. One before I knew them, Rach once told me that Andy got into a car accident and a child died. I don't know much about it, that could be a motive right?" Booth nodded his head, but didn't interrupt, instead he let her continue taking. "Two years ago, three months after they had adopted a baby girl, she died from complications with her birth. Her mother died during birth, so she had no one else left. Rachel and Andy had her buried and none of her family ever said anything. It doesn't make sense. I don't think there's anyone, it doesn't make sense. Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

"Hey, it's okay. You've thought about it now, that's the best you could do, it's still helpful," he reassured, putting one hand on the small of her back to calm her.

"Four people still had to die."

"But there are still four people alive, four _family members_ we can save, right?"

"How?"

"Come back to lab with me," he requested. He looked at everyone else to judge their reaction but they were all focusing on her, they were all looking at the look on her face. The deer in the headlights look that was pasted on her face. "Just for a couple of hours! We need access to computers and the system, we can look at the records and we can get a new suspect list. I need your help with this Tempe, you know the family, please."

Brennan stayed silent, considering what he had just said and trying to figure out a way to make it work. A way which would make everyone happy and still be able to figure out the case.

"Pete for me," Brennan stated. Of course she wanted to go with Booth, but she needed to make sure that everyone else was okay.

"What?" Booth asked, stunned.

"If you let Pete go, I'll come with you," she restated. "If you let him go now, I'll come with you. It's my fault he's there anyway, he did nothing." Booth sighed, they both knew that they needed to look through the records as soon as possible, she was using this to get what she wanted. She'd been taught well.

"I'll have to make a few phone calls but I'm not promising anything, okay?" Brennan nodded, thanking him silently. Charlie handed him back his phone so that he could call whoever he needed to, and they watched as he walked out of the circle they had found themselves in for a little privacy.

"Thank you Temperance," Tommy whispered, sincerely. She smiled back at him and the group stayed silent until Booth returned, all anxious as to what he would say. His phone call only lasted a few minutes, but still, it felt like forever until he came back.

"I talked to Agent Fletcher and he said he'll get all the paperwork sorted and Pete will be let go in just a few minutes," Booth explained, handing the phone back to Charlie to show him that he could still trust him. The other men around all nodded, and began thinking of how they could get to Pete. Brennan, on the other hand, was confused.

"A few minutes? Normally it takes a lot longer than that to release someone Booth," she pointed out.

"I pulled a few strings but they were looking to release him soon anyway; he wasn't giving us anything. They were going to follow him back to you," he explained, his head down not wanting to look up and see the look on their faces. Her face. He had been in the room when they suggested to follow Pete back to them, he had agreed to do it. "They're not going too now, he won't be followed, I promise," he assured.

"Thanks Booth," Max acknowledged, when everybody else kept quiet. None of them knew what to say, they were hoping either Brennan or Booth would tell them what to do next; they didn't want to take over when they had just agreed to work together.

"I'll pick him up, that's the only way he can get back. He'll get his phone back right?" Tommy asked, directing the conversation to try and form a plan.

"Yeah, he'll get everything he was taken in with back."

"Okay, so I'll call him in the car and arrange to pick him up a few blocks away," he decided. The others agreed with him; as much as they trusted him, they still needed to make sure that the FBI were letting Pete go.

"Don't get noticed by anyone, Tempe can go as soon as you get Pete. Then we can _all _hopefully move forward with this case," instructed Charlie.

"Agreed, we'll be getting ready back here," Max added. Their plan was finished, everyone knew what they were doing and where they were going. Now they just needed to get going.

"I'll call you as soon as I pick him up so that you can get going. Freddie, you come with me; at least you'd be able to get out of the car without people noticing if we need it." Tommy grabbed a set of keys and his jacket and unlocked the door. Freddie followed quickly behind, also picking up his jacket which had been thrown over the back of the sofa. Together, they left the room shutting the door behind them. All four kids looked behind them to see who had left the room but went back to watching TV, seeing it as normal for some of the adults to leave without questions. Max locked the door behind them and went over to sit next to the kids, just like they always did, they would give them a brief explanation to tell them what was happening so that they would be trapped in the dark. Scared.

"Thank you Agent Booth," Charlie said, as he walked over to help Max. Booth nodded, silently accepting his thanks in a way that had always confused Brennan.

"Dr. Brennan are you really going back to the Jeffersonian," asked Zach, finally speaking up from where he stood.

"Yes Zach, I would like you to stay here so that you can explain the facts to the others but if you want to come you are welcome to," Brennan offered, knowing that Zach missed everyone at the lab and automatically understanding if he wanted to come back with them.

"I'll stay here to help, it feels slightly safer but I can't explain why..."

"I understand, sometimes there are just no scientific reasons for things Zach," she reassured him, she too felt like that sometimes; wanting to know the scientific reasons for things that didn't have one. Luckily, Booth had taught her not to try and find a reason for everything. He had taught her a lot of things in the time they had known each other. That was one of the many reasons why she loved him.

"I'm sorry Bones," he murmured, taking a step towards her. But as he did, she took one, slightly smaller, step back moving to the opposite side of the couch.

"It's okay," she assured, despite things obviously not being okay, she tried to convince him anyway. She wasn't mad at him, she wasn't mad or annoyed or angry at anyone but the murderer and herself. She had let it go too far for too long.

"No it's not. Temperance, I am so sorry," he restated, not letting her get any further away. He gently pulled her closer to him into a hug, enveloping his arms around her and once again, kissing the top of her head. She sighed into him, letting her own arms wrap around him. She never wanted to leave, this was once of few places that she felt safe.

"I don't want to leave him," she whispered, still in his embrace.

"Who? Zach?" She nodded. "You don't have to, we _could_ take him with us, he can come too. You know that right?"

"I'd like that, I keep leaving him too much."

"That's fine, as soon as we get the call the _three _ of us will leave," he promised.

Brennan broke away from the hug and smiled up at him. Both missed the contact immediately, but it was quickly restored by Brennan as she took his hand, leading him to where the others sat in front of the TV.

They sat down together, Brennan leaning against Booth's side, his arm instinctively put his arm around her shoulder as if he had been doing it for years.

"You 'kay mummy?" Zach asked, turning around to face her. The huge grin on his face instantly lightening her mood.

"I am now," she smiled back, opening her arms to invite him in for a hug. He stumbled over the variety of quilts and two mattresses, making his way to where she sat on the next 'bed'. Nothing more was said as he sat down on her knee, her arms bringing him closer, and they continued to watch the TV and wait for Tommy's call.

They weren't waiting long. Fifteen minutes later, the shrill of a phone break through the silence. Max stood to quickly answer it, but they all suspected that it was Tommy; he was the only one who they were expecting a call from. Brennan stood, making Zach and Booth stand with her; now they could get going. The quicker they gathered their things together, the quicker they could start looking through old records. Charlie also stood so that he could retrieve the things he had take from Booth when he had first arrived.

Brennan helped Zach put on his shoes and coat as well as pack a few things in a bag so that he wouldn't get bored while they were working. He knew that he was probably better off staying here with everyone else, but she couldn't bring herself round to leaving him behind again. The look on his face when she had come back from the hospital and made her never want to leave him again.

* * *

In under five minutes, the three of them were ready; they would've been ready sooner but Brennan had said goodbye to each of the children, promising to see them soon. Brennan took Zach's hand in hers and followed behind Booth who led them back up the stairs, back to where Booth had left his car. Once she'd reach the top of the stairs, she looked behind her and smiled back at her father who was still there waiting until they were gone before locking the door.

As they headed towards the car, Brennan realised the situation they were in; she was going back to the lab. She was going to the place where everyone she had left were, she was going to see them for the first time in almost two weeks. She wasn't sure if she was nervous or excited.

* * *

They were almost back at the lab, five minutes away at the most. The car ride there had been in complete silence; the only sound in the car was the radio which played along to itself with no one actually taking much notice to it. It was just there to fill the silence.

"Where we goin' mummy?" Zach asked, as he broke his gaze away from the window to look at Brennan in the front seat.

"We're going to the lab; the place where I work. I just need to sort a few things out okay?" she answered, turning round to smile at him reassuringly.

"Okay." He smiled back before turning to look out of the window again, watching as the scenery passed by.

Booth pulled up the car, bringing her out of her thoughts. The familiar area, the parking lot of the Jeffersonian, didn't ease her nerves in the slightest. In just a moment she was going to walk through the doors and face the people she had been _hiding_ from. She was disappointed in herself, she hated to think about what they thought about her.

Their reaction was what was making her nervous. But she had to face it.

* * *

**Well there it is :). I'd love to know what you thought, hopefully it's okay; it took me a while to figure out where I wanted it to go :). **

**I'll start working on a new chapter... soon :P, just need to do some of this stuff people call revision :/ **

**~LittleMiss :) **


	25. Chapter 25

**(a/n) I don't own Bones :( **

**Finally a proper update! Sorry it's taken me so long but hopefully it won't be as long between updates from now on as I've only got one more exam to go :D Thanks to everyone who's stayed with the story and welcome to all the new readers! **

**All mistakes are my own! **

*****Chapter Twenty Five*****

Together, the three of them walked up to the automatic doors of the Jeffersonian. Brennan hesitated momentarily but Booth's squeeze of the hand he was holding gave her all the confidence she needed; it reminded her that he was there. That he would always be there. The doors opened and for the first time in 17 days, she felt like she was home again; she felt like things could actually be good again. Now she just had to face her co-workers. Her friends. Her second family.

She didn't have to wait long, just like always the sound of the doors opening attracted the attention of the person walking directly passed at the time; Dr. Jack Hodgins.

"Dr. B?" he asked startled. Hodgins recovered quickly; the shock passing and the questions buried – for now. "Long time, no see," he joked as he walked closer to her to ease any tension and automatically try to convince her that he would still treat her the same. Brennan just nodded, she couldn't understand why he was being nice to her, she had _left_ them. But here she was being hugged by someone she considered part of her family, a friend. And apparently he still did too.

"Hi," she replied weakly, not knowing what else to say as the hug ended. She had been though a lot with the entomologist who stood in front of her but right now she had no idea of what to say to him. The floor tiles were suddenly more interesting to her as she looked down at the floor with no clue what to do next.

"And who's this little guy here then?" Hodgins asked, kneeling down in front of Zach who was the opposite to Brennan right now, a smile spread across his face at the sight of the place where his mum worked.

"I'm Zach," he beamed, lifting his hand to shake hands. Hodgins lifted his own hand and chuckled as they shook. He stood back up, ruffling the boys hair as he did, earning him a scowl from the five-year-old who immediately sorted his hair back to normal.

"You've got a cute kid, Dr. B." Brennan said nothing but lifted her head to smile at her friend.

"And polite," Booth added, reminding her that he was still there. He hadn't left her. Brennan squeezed on the hand that still connected her to Booth, thanking him with for being there.

"Most of the time," she laughed, easing the tension herself. It surprised her at how quickly things things seemed to be falling back it to place, how normal this seemed. But it could only last so long.

The familiar click of shoes along the tiled floor brought her back to reality, as she looked ahead to see another shocked face. The footsteps halted at the new people who had entered the lab but a few moments later were heard again as Cam took a few steps forward to where the four of them stood.

"Dr. Brennan," she spluttered, genuinely shocked, but happy, as the sight of her colleague. "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good," she assured but not convincing anybody.

"How...? I mean...What the hell is happening?" Cam was confused, Dr. Brennan was standing in the lab once again with her son and had obviously come with Booth. But how had they met each other, Booth would've told them if he knew where she was, right?

"Uhm... We..."

Booth saw the uneasiness and the tension once again, not wanted Brennan to go through it once again, he spoke up; they needed to be getting started with their side of the plan anyway. "Bones and I have thought of a theory, we just need to look up some things first and we're hoping you can help," he summarised as briefly as he could. Brennan let out a sigh of relief as Booth explained but thankfully leaving out the part about the pub. The others were still safe.

"Okay... What do you need us to do?"

"We just need to run a few names and check a few people out, see whether they could be a murderer."

"So it's a job for Angela?" Hodgins concluded.

"Yes," Brennan sighed. The one person she was the most nervous about seeing was the person who would help them the most. It wasn't just that she had left, it was the fact that she had lied to her; for almost six years she had lied to her best friend about having a child. Brennan didn't know whether Angela would ever be able to forgive and that was what was hurting her the most.

"Better get a move on then, so that we can do this as quickly as possible," Hodgins said, motivating them to take those few feet towards Angela's office.

Angela had her back turned to the open door, as the five of them approached the office. Brennan hung back behind the others as Hodgins cleared his throat to get her attention. She automatically turned around and stood up from the couch, putting her sketch pad down on the table in front. A frown formed on her face as she took in the faces of the three people she could see in front of her; they all looked nervous and her head leaped to the worst; something had happened to Brennan.

"What?" she feared.

Hodgins took a small step to the right so that she had a clear visual of the person who stood behind them, her gaze focussed on the floor once again. Once her head had finally registered what she was actually seeing right in front of her, Angela gasped. All of a sudden, all the anger towards her best friend evaporated and she found herself striding in the direction of where Brennan stood.

"Bren," Angela sighed as she pulled her into a hug, shocking them all. It took a few moments for Brennan to react but as soon as she realised what was happening she happily hugged her back, neither of them able to resist their tears any longer.

Cam, Hodgins and Booth stood back, still in the doorway, and watched as the two friends reunited after the short time apart; none of them had expected for it to go this way. The silence that had fallen on them was broken as the two of them broke their hug and laughed as they wiped away the tears.

"Why?" Angela asked simply. The one question that was on everybody's mind was now out in the open and just waiting for an answer; whether they would get one or not was another question. They all looked at Brennan expectantly, waiting for her answer, knowing deep down that she would find a way to avoid the topic. Or not.

"I... I thought I could... It was just easier..." she began, unsure how to explain everything that had been going through her head when she had left them all, when she had gotten the phone call from her father asking her where she was all those days ago. _Why_ hadn't she just stayed in Booth's arms that night, why did she leave? Right now, she wasn't sure what she had been thinking at all. "I thought it would be easier to leave and solve it with the others rather than tell you everything," she rushed, wanting the conversation to be over with as soon as possible. "I knew you'd be angry with the decisions I'd made," she added as an after thought. How could she tell the people she had considered a second _family_ that she had a son, a son that she had hidden from them. "I just wanted you all to be safe," she murmured.

"Aww Bren!" Angela exclaimed at her friends confession, pulling her into a second hug. She had been trying to rationalise her thoughts, unsuccessfully, just like always. Brennan hugged her back but pulled away sooner than the previous time, emotions that she didn't understand properly were whizzing around her head threatening to spill the tears that were forming in her eyes. Why was everyone being nice to her? "We would've, and still would, help you with anything you need. You know that right?" she asked.

"I know now," she admitted. She took another deep breath, holding back the tears that Angela had managed to stop and wipe away. "I thought that you'd back off and move on with a different case when we started arriving at the crime scene... but you didn't," she stated.

"Bones, we were never gonna let you go through this on your own, you know that right?" Booth asked, stepping into the conversation and simultaneously stepping closer to Brennan, placing his hand on the familiar area of her lower back, which didn't go unnoticed by the others. Something had changed between them, something had happened which had brought them closer together than they had been before. "I.. _We _are never gonna leave you," he assured. Cam, Hodgins and Angela agreed around him and the tightening in her chest worsened.

"Thank you," she whispered, not knowing what else to say. It was all getting too much for her, right now, she just wanted to run to her office and lock herself inside, hidden away. Just like she had been doing for the past few days. But she had only just come back from her hiding place, she couldn't go back so soon, she _wouldn't_.

Booth immediately sensed her uneasiness and automatically steered the conversation to what they had originally came here for, they could carry this on later. "Ange, we need you to run a few names for us. Bones and I here had an idea."

"And what might that be?" Angela asked, easing the tension slightly as she walked towards the new Angelator and picked up the control. Everybody followed and formed a line in front of it, Booth stood beside Brennan with his hand still on her small of her back for silent support. They were all waiting for the first step; for Brennan, or Booth, to start speaking.

"We... think it might have something to do with the children... they weren't biologically Rachel and Andrew's, they were... _adopted_," Brennan began, feeling it be best that it come from her. It was what they deserved, at the very least.

"Just like me," Zach piped up from across the room where he was still standing.

"Yeah sweetheart, just like you," Brennan agreed, holding out her hand for him to hold. Two years ago, when he was three-years-old, they had agreed to tell him everything – that Brennan was his mother but Rachel and Andy were just looking after him. The other three people in the room watched the interaction between mother and son, amazed by how easy it seemed to be for her. This was not the Dr. Temperance Brennan they were used to. Of course Booth _knew_ there was this side to her, he'd seen it in her before.

"But I got to see you, and Maddie got to see her mummy too. But nobody else got to," Zach added.

"You know who Maddie's mother was?" Cam asked, surprised that they hadn't thought of the connection sooner.

"Yes, Jennifer Waters. Booth..."

"Arrested her two weeks ago," Hodgins finished. Things about the case were starting to become clearer, simple links that they had never even thought of were being revealed.

"She was released the next day; she wasn't giving us anything useful," Booth continued. "We kept two FBI agents on her at all times to make sure we was safe... And also, just in case there was a possibility that she would lead us to you," he admitted. The thought of him doing anything to try and find her made her heart jump in her chest, metaphorically of course, but another part of her rationalised that he was only doing it for the case.

"She's okay though?" Brennan asked, worried for her friend. This murderer was going after the people that were involved in knowing the truth; that's why the case had somehow made its way to them, she knew the Kents.

"She's fine, she's carrying on just like normal I suppose."

"Even though her daughter just d..." Hodgins began, but stopped himself as he remembered the five-year-old in the room.

"It's okay," Brennan reassured, "he knows. We tried to explain them what was happening, so they wouldn't be so scared and try to find answer on their own... Without all of the details of course."

"Them?" asked Cam.

"Me, Jessie, James and Dill!" Zach answered before Brennan had a chance to.

"Pete's children," Brennan said, answering their silent question.

"We would watch TV and read and stuff while mummy, grandad Max and the others worked so that we didn't get in the way... Tommy said that it was safer for us," he said, looking towards the ground. As much as he loved being here with his mum, he hoped that they could hurry up so that they could get back to the safety of the pub where the others were. Here, he was scared. And Brennan could see it, her first idea had been to send him to her office to play while they worked so that he wouldn't overhear anything. But seeing him now, she didn't know if she'd be able to work without being able to see that he was safe. She bent down in front of him so that she was eye level with him.

"Hey, why don't you sit over there on the sofa and play with some of the things you brought with you, maybe you could read some more of that book! Then you could tell Grandad Max what happens," she advised, hoping that he would so that they could get some work done. He nodded eagerly, he had been reading the book for the past few days and every so often he would give Max an update about what was happening in the book.

"Yeah! I'll finish it and then he'd be really surprised!" he exclaimed, running towards the sofa where he'd left his bag. Brennan stood up but none of them spoke until Zach had pulled out his book and started finding the page he had last read to.

"Zach's real cute Bren, you should be proud," Angela noted.

"I am, everyday."

"Okay, so back to business," Booth began, bringing the topic back to what they were originally here for. "Apart from Maddie's mum, do you know anybody else's? Did Rachel or Andrew keep any documents anywhere that had the names of the parents on them?" he asked. Brennan shook her head. "You sure?"

"Yes Booth, I only know of Jennifer. I mean, there's some people I suspect to be parents but they didn't tell anyone, they kept all the information locked away somewhere. Presumably somewhere close by, in the house maybe, but I don't know for sure. They kept everything a secret," Brennan admitted.

"Who do you suspect?" asked Angela, bringing up all the documents they had on all seven children, including Zach's, as well as everything on Rachel and Andy.

"I can't say, there's a reason everything's kept a secret," she answered honestly. She had a inkling who Georgia's mother was but she didn't want to point fingers at anyone to be wrong, or to have the mother brought in when she didn't want to be. It wouldn't be her behind all this anyway.

"Okay, Bones, it's okay," Booth assured her. Now onto the next topic that they needed to look up. "You said earlier that there were two children that died while in the care of the Kents, do you think there'd be some sorta record of their deaths?"

"I suppose there would be something, I told you what I know. I wish I knew more, I do, but I don't know what..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay, just take a deep breath and think about things okay," he soothed, standing directly in front of her and putting his hands on either side of her shoulders to try and calm her down. Together, they took a deep breath.

"They don't tell me everything, but I've heard of three children that aren't there with them now; two died and one went back to his parents..." she began.

"Okay, so tell me about the child that went back to his parents, we'll check them all just to be sure. It's all right," he assured.

"His name was Tyler, they adopted him straight from birth but then two years later his parents, his mother I think, changed her mind and decided that she wanted him back. All the documents were reversed and in under two weeks he was given back to his parents," she explained. Angela, Cam and Hodgins had no idea what she meant by _adoptions _or _documents_ but obviously Booth did, he knew what she was saying and hopefully they would explain it to them later or it would be simple enough for them to do their work without knowing all the details. "Last I heard, she was still in contact with Rachel and living in England with her parents... Hoflin... I think that was his surname, Hoflin."

"Good, that's good. Angela, would you run the name, Tyler Hoflin through the database and see if you get a hit."

"Sure thing," she agreed, beginning to type a set of variables into the control panel for her programme to search through. Hopefully she would get a hit soon enough. Booth nodded in thanks and turned back to Brennan, smiling at her before pulling her to his chest. He didn't care who saw them, all he saw was his Bones hurting and he couldn't stand that. He kissed the top of her head, just like he had been doing back at the pub and she smiled into his chest.

"We need to move, we don't have a lot of time," he heard Bones mumbled, her voice muffled by his chest. She lent back, his arms still around her and smiled up at him, they would have time for hugs later but right now they needed to work.

"Tyler Hoflin, lives with his parents Dianne and Thomas Hoflin in England like you said, neither of them have left in over a year or made any calls to the states either," Angela announced as the computer beeped to let them all know that the search had found all it could. "No large amounts of money have been transferred to any other accounts either."

"So we can rule them out," Booth confirmed, mentally crossing the name off in his head. One down, two more to go, that they knew of of course. He had had agents go through every inch of the Kents' house and they had found no documents to suggest that any of the kids had been adopted, there was nothing. He just hoped they weren't missing anyone. "Right, onto the next one."

* * *

"She's fine dad, you know he's gonna do anything to keep her safe," Freddie assured. After picking Pete up a few blocks away from the Hoover building, they had drove around for a while to make sure nobody was following them and then drove to the Jeffersonian. They parked away from the entrance but close enough so that they could see Brennan enter safely. They had waited only ten minutes before watching her walk towards the entrance, hand-in-hand with Booth and Zach.

Tommy knew that she would be safe with him, that she would be safe in the Jeffersonian but deep down he still saw her as the 15 year old girl who had come crying to his door telling him that her parents had gone missing.

"I know, I know, it's just..." he started, unable to voice what he was thinking.

"Dad we get it, she's family," Pete added from the back seats where he sat.

"But we're gonna get this guy, either us or the FBI are gonna find him and then he's gonna pay, one way or another," Tommy acknowledged.

A minute later, once he was sure they had gotten into the building together, he started the car and pulled out of the parking space, driving off in the direction of the pub. This guy had been a dead man the minute he had _thought_ about harming her other family.

* * *

**That's all for today! I'm already working on chap 26 and hopefully I can post it later this week :) **

**Thanks for reading! **

**~Beth :) **


	26. Chapter 26

**It's later in the week and here I am posting a new chapter just like I said :) Shocking, I know! And to make things even more shocking I'm nearly finished with the next chapter :D! **

**This ones a little shorter but it was just gonna get rambly if I carried it on any more :). All mistakes are my own and once again, I don't own Bones :( **

*****Chapter Twenty-Six*****

"Charlie just got off the phone with Scott Adams' boss, says he's been at work for the past two weeks, all day everyday, they're on a big build at the minute apparently. The only extra day off he's had is April 29th every year. Foster and Fletcher are going to their house now to talk to him and the wife, should be there in a few hours," Booth explained, hanging up the phone and walking back to where they stood.

Two hours ago, Brennan had told them of the second child, a five-year-old named Ben who had been in a car accident with Andy eighteen months before she had met them. It had taken them just two hours to find his parents; Scott and Nicole Adams. They had matched Ben's blood type to all the mothers who had given birth in D.C. on the date of his birth and cross-matched it will all those that had no record of having any children currently. Surprisingly, the list had been longer than any of them had thought but Brennan had recognised the similar facial structure in the parents and they had made a match. It had taken them less time to track them down, and fortunately, they were still in D.C.

"April 29th is the day that Ben Adams died. He probably took the day off to mourn his death... Even though, he had given up the rights, he was still their son, it still hurts... I mean, it's not easy..." Brennan began, justifying not only Scott Adams' choices, but her own as well.

"Hey, hey, shh, I get it okay," Booth soothed, pocketing his phone and wrapping his arms around her. "Shh, I get it..."

"Thank you," she mumbled, relieved that she didn't have to rationalise her actions.

He continued to hold her as Angela brought up the Adams' phone records that she had just been emailed from the FBI; the FBI would check financials while they checked these to hopefully get through them quicker. Brennan stayed in the safety of his arms but turned her head so she could see the screen, so that she could still be of some help. However, she was exhausted, everyone could tell, but she refused to give in to it. She could sleep later when this was all over.

"What's that number?" Hodgins pointed out as they scrolled through the numbers. "They call for about an hour, every... Sunday," he observed. "For the past year it looks like."

"Just give me... two minutes... and.. there we go... The number is registered to a Jean Martin," Angela read once she ran the number "It's Nicole Adams' mother," she added as the rest of the information was loaded.

"But why would she only start ringing in the past year? Surely, they would have rang each other before," Cam questioned to no one in particular.

"I have no idea, Angela could you send all of this to Fletcher's cell and have him ask the Adams about it when they get there," Booth asked. "And could you run each number separately, just in case anything unusual pops up, just to be sure," he added.

"Sure thing," Angela agreed, entering the new information into the Angelator as the room fell into silence.

Only to be broken a few moments later by a small, almost unheard, yawn coming from Brennan.

"Bren, sweetie, you're shattered, why don't you go get some sleep while we wait," Angela advised, concerned for her friends health; both physically and emotionally.

"No, I'm fine, I'll be fine," she stubbornly argued.

"Dr. Brennan, you're recovering from surgery, you still need a lot of rest..." Cam began.

"Just for a while, nothing interesting is gonna happen and if it does we'll come find you straight away," Hodgins continued, seeing the two women getting nowhere. "Just for an hour or so, while we're got nothing to do," he bargained.

"Come on Bones, you can come lie down in your office where it's quiet," Booth added. Brennan sighed, she didn't like it when they all ganged up on her, even if it was for her best interests. She _could_ do with some more sleep, she'd got so little lately but she hated being told what to do. "I'll even come with you."

"You two can go and sleep and we'll stay with Zach," Hodgins insisted.

"Yeah, he'll be fine with us, we'll have some fun over here!" Angela added, her smile reassuring her best friend and convincing her even more that she should go with Booth.

"Fine," she sighed reluctantly. Sleep was sounding like a really good idea right now. Booth smiled and took her hand in his as he led her out out of the office and towards hers.

"They are definitely not partners any more," Angela announced once the two _partners _that they were talking about were out of hearing . Hodgins and Cam were about to respond to agree with her but once again, Zach beat them to it.

"That's what my Uncle Freddie says all the time, but I don't know what it means," he admitted, dropping his book onto the sofa and leaning over the back of it so he was closer to where they stood.

"Aww, you are the cutest five-year-old ever," Angela gushed at the sound of Brennan's son using her own phrase.

"You've already said that," he observed, but smiled anyway. He got it a lot when he was alone with his real mum, when he was with the others nobody paid much attention to them. Angela smiled back at the boy, putting down the Angelator control she made her way around to sit down on the sofa next to him; now was the time for her to get some much needed gossip about her two friends.

"You are so much like Dr. B," Hodgins commented, coming to sit down on the opposite side of Zach, who turned and jumped back into a sitting position between the two.

"I'll let you three get on, let me know if you find anything," Cam requested, not waiting for a response as she made her way out of the office. She knew she didn't need to ask, they would come and find her with whatever they found, even if it was nothing.

"So what does it mean?" Zach asked expectantly, turning his head both ways to look at them. He recognised them both instantly from the pictures that his mum had shown him ages ago. She had told him loads about the people that she worked with, she had answered every question he had had and she had even told him stories at night about them. But it was obvious, even to him, that they didn't know about him.

"What does what mean?"

"The partners thing, that's what they are aren't they?" he questioned. "Mummy always says that they're partners because of lines, which doesn't make sense but..."

"It means that they love each other and even though everyone can tell that they do they won't admit it to each other," Angela tried to explain, as simply as possible so that he would understand. "They want to be with each other but they won't say they love each other yet."

"But... they do love each other," Zach stated, obviously confused.

"Yes, but they won't admit it," Hodgins tried to help out. Zach was a _lot _like his mother.

"But they did!" he exclaimed, causing the two adults around him to stare at him.

"What?" Angela spluttered, the first to get over the shock. The two _partners_ who had denied every feeling that they had for one another for the past five years had actually admitted to said feelings?

"Mummy was sad one day and she told me it was 'cause she loved him lots and lots but she couldn't tell him about me, 'cause that would make him angry with her," he began to explain. "She said it wasn't my fault though," he added, hiding the hint of sadness in his voice with a smile on his face. "And then Booth told me that he loved my mummy too."

"Wha..? I mean, when? He actually said that? Did he tell Dr. B?" Hodgins questioned, just as shocked as Angela was.

"He told me after we had dinner at Uncle Pete's, he was helping me in the car, even though I _can_ do it myself, and he told me... But I was meant to keep it a secret. Do you think he'll be mad at me that I told you?" he asked nervously.

"He won't be," Angela promised him, earning her another genuine smile from him.

"Good 'cause I haven't told no one else, only Dill but he said he'd keep it a secret too 'cause we're friends," he confessed.

"Okay, so, I love that you're here right now," she assured him, beginning to change the subject. "But how come you and your mummy are here right now?" she asked, not really expecting a great answer from the five-year-old but she had been dying for one since the beginning. "Your mummy's pretty stubborn, so what convinced her to come back?" she added, seeing his confused look.

"I dunno, she was sad for a while and then Booth came and then we drove here in Booth's car," he answered. She wasn't expecting much of an answer but the fact that Booth had gone to Brennan had shocked her. How the hell had he suddenly found out where she was without them knowing; there would be some serious questioning later. "After they did a lot of talking and cuddling," he quickly added as an afterthought.

"Cuddling, huh? I'm gonna need to talk to your mummy about that," Angela joked, a comfortable quietness falling on them all.

"Thank you," he announced suddenly, causing the two adults to look at him strangely. "For not being angry," he clarified.

"What would be angry about, kiddo," Hodgins asked, concerned at the boys sudden change.

"Mummy said that you would be angry at her when she came back... That's why she was so scared. But you're not angry... that's why I said thank you," he explained slowly, hoping that he had said the right thing.

"Sweetie, we could never be angry at your mummy, we love her too much, she's like family," Angela assured.

"There's more than one type of family," he quoted, it was something that Brennan had started telling him when they had first told him the truth. And every time he had been with her she had told him that when she had took him back home, after promising to see him soon.

"Sure is kiddo," Hodgins agreed.

"Anyway, what did you and your mummy usually do together?" Angela asked, changing the subject, once again, to a lighter topic.

"Oh we did loads of cool things!" he exclaimed as he started to reel off the things that they had done together in the past, a smile spread across his face.

* * *

"You do know you said you'd sleep, right Bones?" he asked, as he turned his head to look at her curled up beside his chest, her head resting on his shoulder.

"I can't," she murmured, trying to prevent her eyes from falling shut.

"Zach's safe, you know that we're not going to let anything happen to him, and no one else knows about the pub so they're safe too. We've got a few hours to kill, which means you've got time to catch up on your sleep," he tried to rationalise, hoping it would help ease her mind.

"I know... It's just that... we're so close now... I can't sleep," she sighed.

"I know, I know, just try for me," he whispered into her soft hair, tightening the arm her had around her to try and pull her closer. "Please." He felt her nod slowly, too tired to do much else and eventually let her eyelids win as they closed shut. He dropped a kiss to the top of her head as her breathing evened out, telling him that she had finally fallen to sleep.

He didn't move for about an hour, choosing to just hold her to make sure that she wouldn't wake up. She needed her sleep just as much as the rest of them did. But after while he gently began to untangle himself from her, making sure not to wake her as he laid her fully down, draping the blanket from the back of the couch over her small frame. After silently promising her that he'd come back soon, he left her to sleep to go and see what progress the others had made.

* * *

Booth walked back into Angela's office to see Hodgins working at the computer while Angela and Zach slept; Angela slept slightly awkwardly still sat with her feet on the table in front of her, Zach's head laid in her lap clutching a toy that he had brought with him.

"The search finished but I didn't want to wake either of them," Hodgins answered Booths silent question.

"I get it, it's been an exhausting day for us all," he reassured. "But hopefully you can give me some good news."

"Sorry Booth, not right now. Nothing came up on the search; no new numbers or anything. They called no one with a criminal record, at all," he revealed, much to both of their disappointment.

"Let's just hope Fletch and Laura come up with something or its back to square one and we have to start all over again on the next kid."

"We're getting closer though, that's a good thing; narrowing down suspects and all that – two down, one to go."

"I suppose so, I just hate all the waiting," Booth complained, rubbing his face in his hands and sighing in frustration.

"Why wait?" they heard a voice come from the doorway.

"Bones, you're supposed to be asleep," Booth pointed out. An hours sleep wasn't enough and he could tell from her eyes that she was still tired, hell anybody could.

"I couldn't," she murmured, before continuing with what she had originally said. "It'd be quicker if we start running down the last child; nobody can really sleep and we're just wasting time by doing nothing," she bargained, hoping that he would agree, she hated nothing more than just waiting around.

"Fine," Booth sighed.

"I'll go get Cam, but can we let Ange sleep for just a little while longer?" he asked.

"Of course," Brennan assured. The entomologist thanked her with a smile as he left the room to find their boss.

"You sure you're okay Bones? You can still go back to sleep," asked Booth. She smiled at his concern for her, she had missed this.

"I'm fine Booth."

"Yeah, you always are."

* * *

**Thanks for reading :) Let me know what you thought :) **

**Just want to add that all the research-y stuff that happens in this chapter is only what I thought could happen, I honestly have no idea how it works... But that's why it's called fiction, right? So don't get mad if I got it all totally wrong :) **

**~Beth :) **


	27. Chapter 27

**Wow, it's been almost 2 months since I last updated and I am really sorry for not updating sooner. Another serious case of writers block hit me and my laptop dying didn't help :/. Anyway, in better news I have written 3 and 1/2 chapters on paper during my first 2 weeks of summer which I'm posting now that I've gotten round to typing them up :). There's not many more chapters left to go and I want to thank everyone who's stuck with me during this extremely long process :D **

**As usual I don't own Bones :(**

* * *

*****Chapter Twenty-Seven*****

_Charlotte Rose Harding, daughter to Owen Harding and the deceased Rose Harding. Her mother had passed due to birth complications; haemorrhaging seconds after hearing her babies cries. The doctors had tried everything but they were unable to save her. At six minutes past two in the early hours of the morning, Rose Harding had slipped into fatal slumber. Not knowing how to cope after his wife's sudden death, her father had turned to the Kent's for a help, a friend of his late wife's. But just two months after entering the world, Charlotte Rose had left again; SIDS – no one knew the cause. _

_Mother and daughter laid side by side for the first time as the father requested that they be buried next to each other, so that it would be easier for him to visit his two girls every day. _

That happened two years ago, when Brennan had been there. It had been painful for everyone but they had all accepted that it was a sudden and unexpected death, including the father.

"It was an accident though Booth, everyone knew that, nothing could've been done... that's why I didn't think of it sooner," Brennan said, trying to convince herself rather than anyone else.

"I know, we're just making sure..." he began but his phone started to ring which he answered quickly, putting it on speaker for everyone to hear. "Hey Fletch."

"_These aren't your guys Booth," _Fletcher started from the other end of the line.

"You sure?"

"_Positive; both of them have alibi's for all of the murders and I'm pretty sure that they're dealing with the death of their son just fine, well as _fine_ as anyone would be," _he began.

"_Got a whole section of pictures of him with the other family photos and they're okay talking about him to their two-year-old daughter_," they heard Laura Foster add, most likely driving the car but listening to the call on speaker like they were.

"And you're sure they're airtight alibi?"

"_Scott's got about 40 other men that can vouch for him on a building site, and Nicole's got about the same at several of the clubs she attends during the week," _Fletcher confirmed.

"What about the phone calls to her mother?" asked Angela.

"_You were right by what you thought, Nicole was reconnecting with her mother again after nearly ten years. Apparently, her mother didn't approve of her daughter giving up her own son; after a few arguments leading up to a bigger one the pair just stopped talking." _

"_We asked Charlie to get someone to check out the mother while we were still in there, he's just got back to us saying she knew nothing about the Kent's and there's no links of them ever meeting each other," _added Foster as they heard the car stop, probably giving her chance to check her phone.

"_I'm guessing the records didn't show anything," _Fletcher assumed as Booth sighed.

"Yeah, these aren't our guys," Booth confirmed. "Thanks both of you, I'll catch you up when you get back later," he promised and after saying 'bye' he ended the phone call.

This last child was all they had left, their last suspect and then they had nothing.

At last the, right, records for Owen Harding were sent to Angela. "Owen Harding, 37-years-old and living in D.C., he owns a house in the city and the warehouse that..." Angela began, reading directly from the file, stopping when she read over one piece of information in particular.

"I got shot at," Brennan answered for her, her hand instinctively landing on the small bandage which covered the bullet wound.

"Yeah," Angela murmured.

"This is our guy then," Hodgins assumed, unconsciously breathing a sigh of relief, they had a proper suspect; one who could potentially become their main.

"We don't know anything for sure yet... It could... It could just... be... a coincidence," Brennan rationalised, not yet wanting to get her hopes up. She already knew the pain when they came crashing down, it was an all too familiar feeling and she definitely didn't want to go through it again.

"We don't know anything for sure yet, for all we know this could be a frame up," Booth pointed out, "or, like Bones said, this could just be a coincidence," he agreed, although not really believing it himself; his gut told him that, even though it seemed too good to be true, this guy was their prime suspect. One who they needed to find quick.

"We'll carry on this case like we always do; right now, we need to find out as much as we can about this man. Where he works, colleagues, friends, family, which pubs he goes to, where he gets his groceries, hell... where he walks his dog," Booth ordered as Angela tried to search for everything.

"Booth, we don't know if he has a dog," Brennan said seriously, and despite what was going on, Booth actually chuckled.

"I know Bones, it's just something you say," he smiled at her, taking her hand in his.

"Oh," she mumbled.

As soon as a silence started to fall, it was broken just as quickly by the cries of a terrified little boy. They had left Zach on the couch to sleep while they worked but as his nightmares started to swarm around his head, his small pleas for his mother filled the room. Brennan immediately dropped Booth's hand and rushed around to her son who had now began to thrash around, trying to get away from whoever or whatever was ruining his dreams.

"Hey, mommy's here Zach, shh, you're safe now... I'm here, shh," she soothed, holding him closer to her chest as she bent down in front of him. She kissed the top of his head, just like Booth did to her, as he started to wake up, soon realising that he was safe in his mothers arms. Once again, the squints were shocked to see this other side of the anthropologist as she gathered the small boy into her arms, standing up straight.

"Let me know if you find anything, I'm just going to settle him down, I'll be back in a bit," she asked.

"Will do Bones," Booth promised, the only other person in the room able to form coherent sentences. They watched as she gently carried him out of the office, continuing to whisper soothing nothings to clam him down.

"R...Right... right, back to work," Cam started, bringing everyone from their thoughts.

"Yeah, back to work," Hodgins repeated, walking over to the printer where Angela had printed off copies of phone and financial records.

* * *

Brennan walked straight past her office and carried on walking up to the to the second-story platform which surrounded the lab. The circle of orange chairs was where she would find herself most mornings simply doing paperwork, the buzz of the people working below creating the peaceful atmosphere that she loved. She sat down in the armchair which she always worked in, her legs crossed and Zach laid in her lap, now awake but not yet fully alert.

"Mommy," he mumbled, grasping her shirt in his fist as a reminder that she was still there.

"I'm here baby," she whispered. "It was just a bad dream that's all."

Zach stayed curled up in her arms for another 15 minutes before slowly leaning back and sitting up straighter.

"I dreamed that... you never came back... from hospital," he admitted. Just like he had told Booth, whenever he had a nightmare he would tell him mom and she would tell him how it could never happen. "When I ask if I could see you, some nasty persons said I couldn't and they started chase me in a playground, and grandad Max didn't help me or Uncle Pete or any of the others... They watched," he described as well as he could remember, starting to get upset again as the images that had started to fade by his mothers presence started to come back again.

"Shh, shh, well that can never happen. Firstly, because I don't plan on going to the hospital any time soon," she began, loosening her grip around him and beginning to run her fingers through his soft auburn hair. "Secondly, no nasty men are coming to get you. _And_ grandad Max is _never_ going to let anyone get you, none of them would ever let someone take you from us, okay?" He nodded his head, the nightmare slowly fading away as his mom explained it to him, just like always. "I am _never_ going to let anyone get you, okay? I'm not leaving you again," she promised, as she leaned further back into the seat just resting her eyes for a few minutes.

* * *

"So you're saying he had access to all the materials?" Booth asked to clarify what Hodgins had just told him. It was now 7pm, three hours since Brennan had left the room with Zach; Booth had gone looking for her but when he had found her in the chair with Zach he had decided to let her sleep. She needed all that she could get to fully recover, which hadn't been much lately. It made it worse that she was reluctant to sleep, whereas everyone else was trying to get a few few hours sleep whenever they weren't doing something.

Agents Richard Fletcher and Laura Foster had joined them at the Jeffersonian to help after arriving back from the Adams' and Booth had made sure to catch them up with everything that they had found. They had all split up to check out different aspects of Owen Harding's life, agreeing that it would be quicker that way; they couldn't afford to waste any time when people's lives were at stake.

"Yeah, he bought none of them apart from 10 packets of matches and a few blankets, but by the looks of it he could get it all from work," Hodgins repeated.

"You'd think his boss would notice some stolen equipment" Fletcher pointed out.

"You up for another road trip to have a talk to him?" Booth asked. Fletcher agreed, grabbing his jacket and keys from the table where he had thrown them earlier. "Hodgins would you try and help Cam and Angela with narrowing down who he was close to." The two women had set up on the platform, the bodies now down in limbo, spreading out the documents they had and, with the help of four other FBI guys, were trying to find links between Harding, people that he knew and the case. He agreed and sped off in their direction, mumbling to himself about needed to check up on the interns soon who were down in limbo checking over the bodies again for something they might have missed.

Booth ran over everyone in his head, making sure that they all knew what they were doing. Finally, he looked over to Foster.

"Laura, would you talk to Bones upstairs for me please, I know she can be difficult but I just want her to know what's happening," he asked, trying to convince the fellow agent. "She's just scared."

"Okay," she agreed unsure why other agents thought she was tough to work with, from what Booth had said about her she seemed all right, like the worlds best partner. Booth quickly thanked her before following after Fletcher who had gone to get the car, leaving Foster alone in the now empty office. _Might as well get it over and done with, _she thought to herself as she remembered that she would most likely have to wake the doctor first before she could talk to her.

* * *

"Mm, Yeah? What happened?" Brennan mumbled, as she was slowly woken by gentle nudges and someone quietly calling her name. She sat up in the chair as she began to wake up, making sure that Zach stayed asleep. "I'm awake," she said, looking at the FBI agent who stood in front of her, vaguely recognising the familiar face.

"Dr. Brennan, I'm Laura Foster," she introduced, noticing that Brennan didn't recollect who she was. "Booth asked me to give you an update," she said, shuffling slightly, unsure what she should do.

"Oh," she yawned, making sure she was fully awake so that she could take everything in. "Okay," she said, subtly telling her she could begin but also nodding her head to indicate that she could sit down.

"Booth just left actually, he's gone with Agent Fletcher to talk to Owen Harding's boss; we've got reason to believe that he had access to all of the materials," she explained, also letting her know what the others were doing down the stairs.

"Thank you," Brennan said sincerely, adjusting Zach on her lap to make it more comfortable.

"No problem Dr. Brennan, just doing my job." The two woman smile at the other and continued to sit in a comfortable silence, staring down at the floor.

"You said Angela, Cam and Hodgins were looking at his friends and family," Brennan started as something Andy had said to her at the funeral came back to her. Foster nodded her head in confirmation, intrigued to hear what she had thought of. "Have you checked out the brother?" she asked.

"We've... I mean, they've probably looked at him seeing as he's his brother but I'm not actually too sure, why?"

"Just something that... At Charlotte's funeral, Andy said that he had a _funny_ feeling about the brother but of course there was no reason to look into it," she told. "I was just thinking, that with everything that's happened, maybe he had a point."

"Why don't we go down and have a look then, see if they've found anything," the agent offered, moving to the edge of her seat to stand.

"Yeah," Brennan agreed, lifting both herself and Zach from the chair, still careful not to wake him, before laying him back down to let him sleep longer.

"He's adorable," Foster pointed out, as they watched him yawn and then curl up into a ball on his side, his face buried in the corner.

"I've been told that a lot recently," she admitted, smiling at her son. She always enjoyed these moments but she had rarely got to see them, one of her life's biggest regrets.

"It's true," the other woman laughed as they walked to the top of the stairs together.

"I don't know the father, but from your facial structure I'd say that you have an adorable child too," Brennan observed, stopping just like Laura who had confusion written all across her face.

"How? How did you...?"

"It's my job," she retorted, as she continued down the stairs, leaving a stunned agent behind her.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, next update will be soon seeing as I've already got the chapter written ;) Let me know what you think/thought :) **


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